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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25259179">Just Another Self Insert</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilRegal92/pseuds/LilRegal92'>LilRegal92</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Drama, Family Feels, Friendship, Lovey-Dovey, Multi, Self-Insert, Slice of Life</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 05:21:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>62,869</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25259179</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilRegal92/pseuds/LilRegal92</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Minerva McGonagall/Severus Snape, Sirius Black &amp; Minerva McGonagall</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Intro</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“See you guys tomorrow!” Sadie yelled to her coworkers as she headed to her car.</p>
<p>Ash asked, “Are we still going out for drinks after the movie?”</p>
<p>“I think Preston still wanted to.”</p>
<p>	Rain shouted over the roof of her car as she got in, “I’m in.”</p>
<p>	“Rad!”</p>
<p>	Ash put up her hand to wave, “See ya tomorrow!”</p>
<p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p>
<p>	Rain opened her eyes and waited for them to adjust. She reached over to grab her glasses off of the bedside table that normally sat to the left of her bed, however, all she grasped was air. She looked over and noticed the table was missing, but so was all of her furniture. After noticing that the blankets on her bed were not her, she shot up in bed to find two girls in the room with her, each sitting on their own bed with apprehensive expressions on their faces.</p>
<p>	“What’s going on?” She asked.</p>
<p>	“Is that you Rain?” The girl directly in front of her asked.</p>
<p>	Rain’s heart stopped, “How do you know my name?”</p>
<p>	“It’s us. Sadie and Ash.”</p>
<p>	“What in the actual fuck?!”</p>
<p>	Sadie told her, “I think we’re in a Hufflepuff room?”</p>
<p>	“You think we’re in a what?”</p>
<p>	“A Hufflepuff room. The one for first year students, to be exact,” She explained.</p>
<p>	“Okay, but why? And why do you guys look weird?”</p>
<p>	Ash pointed at Rain, “Hey! I look perfectly normal.”</p>
<p>	Sadie answered, “I think we’re all kids?”</p>
<p>	“No. This is a fucked up dream. One of those dreams that seems real, but you end up waking up peeing yourself or falling down the stairs, something like that. There’s no way we could possibly be children.”</p>
<p>	Sadie got out of bed and walked over to the closed door. After cracking it open a bit to get a look on the other side, she motioned for the other two girls to join her. They walked over to see Hogwarts students walking by, stopping to chit chat, and even saw an owl fly by. Certain of where they were, Sadie shut the door behind her and walked back to her section of the room to dig around her drawers and the trunk at the foot of her bed.</p>
<p>	“We are definitely at Hogwarts,” She told them. “I don’t know how this is even possible, but we are at Hogwarts, in the Hufflepuff house, and most likely eleven years old right now.” She closed her trunk and walked over to the dresser beside her bed, “If I can find a wand, I’ll have- AH HA!” Sadie held her wand up, “We’re fucking witches.”</p>
<p>	“No way!” Rain said, “Why us? How us? When?”</p>
<p>	Sadie shrugged, “If I knew the answers to those questions, we’d already be heading back home.”</p>
<p>	Ash, who found her wand almost as soon as she opened the top drawer on her dresser, suggested, “Maybe an alternate reality or another dimension?”</p>
<p>	“I mean, I guess.” Sadie agreed.</p>
<p>	Rain sat on her bed and inquired, “I wonder if the boys are here?”</p>
<p>	“Let’s go find out.”</p>
<p>	Rain’s wand was conveniently on top of her dresser, “Alright,” She responded as she grabbed it. “If they’re not then maybe they’ll come find us.”</p>
<p>	The three girls quietly and calmly made their way out of their sleeping quarters and into the Common Room. Without hesitation, they made a b-line for the exit and sprinted through the halls and corridors to see if they could find their friends. As they shot up to the ground level they collided with their friend Preston, who fell back onto the landing in order to avoid falling head first down the staircase.</p>
<p>	“Oh god, I’m so sorry.” He said as he stood up.</p>
<p>	Sadie asked, “Preston, is that you?”</p>
<p>	“Yeah! Wait, how do you-”</p>
<p>	“It’s Sadie.”</p>
<p>	His eyes got big, “No foolin’! Wait, so are you two Rain and Ash?” He inquired as he pointed to the two students standing behind his friend.</p>
<p>“In the flesh,” Rain replied. “Have you seen Emmett or Liam anywhere?”</p>
<p>“Not yet. I haven’t been able to take a good enough look around the place, though. But how did we even get here? And why are we all eleven?”</p>
<p>Sadie shrugged, “We have no idea.”</p>
<p>A voice came from behind Preston, “Guys? Is that you?”</p>
<p>The four looked a few feet behind Preston to see two other boys, one with brown hair and one with red hair, each wearing glasses. “Who?” Preston asked.</p>
<p>Emmett responded with an annoyed tone, “C’mon dude, how many black guys are at this school that happen to know three girls who have a similar appearance to our friends Sadie, Ash, and Rain?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, it’s us,” He confirmed.</p>
<p>Emmett relaxed, “Thank fuck! I thought we were just somehow stranded here at Hogwarts.”</p>
<p>“Does anyone know how we even got here?” Liam inquired to the group.</p>
<p>“Nah, we were just wondering the same thing,” Rain informed the other two. “Has anyone said anything to either one of you?”</p>
<p>“No.”</p>
<p>“Well we obviously missed the sorting ceremony, which is the best part of being a first year.” Sadie sounded disappointed. “What day is it? Have we even had any classes yet?”</p>
<p>Another male student walked by and Emmett stopped him, “Excuse me,” he started, “What day of the week is it?”</p>
<p>“Monday.”</p>
<p>“Okay. Thanks, man.”</p>
<p>“No problem.”</p>
<p>Sadie told them, “We should probably go back to our rooms, get our schedules, then head to wherever we need to be. Breakfast is going to be first, but we’re going to be split up pretty much all day.”</p>
<p>Rain said, “I’m good with waiting this out and seeing what happens, if you guys are. Who knows, maybe we all just got a little too drunk or decided to try acid for the first time and this is all a really bad trip?”</p>
<p>“Agreed.” They all responded in unison.</p>
<p>“Let’s meet back at the Great Hall between classes.” Sadie suggested.</p>
<p>With that, the group went about their day, doing their best to blend in with the rest of the student body. None of them know exactly how they got there or how they would be getting back home, if they could even get back home. All they could do was play along.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter One</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The first few chapters might be a bit short, I'm trying to flesh them out to make them longer and give more reading con. The next update may take a bit longer, but I'll try to get it up ASAP.  Thank you to Clever_Kate for beta reading and helping me come up with ideas/fixing plot holes and grammatical errors.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Sadie Bell, Ash Thompson, and Rain Murphy made their way down the corridor to the Great Hall where they had agreed to meet up with their friends Liam Bennett, Emmett Clark, and Preston Myers after their classes were over. The trio turned the corner and entered the Hall to find their friends sitting at the back of the room. Somehow Emmett had made it before them, despite him leaving the class they shared together after they did. He must have found a shortcut.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Did y'all get to walk around the school at all today?" Preston asked as the three girls took a seat at the table.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Sadie giggled as Rain replied, "Kind of."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Kind of?" Liam questioned them.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Ash clarified, "Sadie was following Professor Snape around the castle. We followed to make sure she didn't actually try anything."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Preston raised his eyebrows at Sadie. "Don't give me that look! You know he's my type! Broken and angry!" She smirked.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Okay, okay. My bad." He said as he put his hands up in surrender. "But you do know you're eleven, right?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I am well aware!"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Before any of them could speak another word, a voice from the doorway of the Great Hall said, “Oh look, it’s Professor Snape's new little shadow.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They all turned to see an older student with a few of her friends. The girl was on the taller side, maybe just under five feet and ten inches. Her blonde hair was held back by an elastic band and two bobby pins on each side of her head. She stood with a cocky grin on her face, proud of herself for what she saw as a clever jab.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rain threw a sarcastic smile back at her, ”That’s a good one. You must be the class whore.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Excuse me?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” Rain asked, pretending to be dumbfounded.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Who do you think you are?” The girl narrowed her eyes at Rain.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought we were just throwing out assumptions about each other.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It wasn’t an assumption, it was fact. I saw her following Snape earlier.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rain nodded toward her, “Okay, well then if we’re stating facts based on first impressions, you’re a bitch.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The bully stood over Rain, “I bet you think you’re clever.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh no, I know it for a fact.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We’ll see how clever you are when I kick your ass.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The girl lifted her hand to swing a Rain, but a blur knocked her to the ground. Sadie had lunged from her seat and tackled her. She shoved the first year off of her and charged at her. The group of friends the stranger had brought along quickly stepped towards the other newcomers. They each got up and waited to see what the others would do. Rain quickly got up and stood in front of her friend as the other girl came barreling toward her, lifted the bully by her shirt, and slammed her on the table. She raised her fist just in time to hear a man’s voice from the doorway.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What is going on here?” It was Snape. “All of you, to the Headmaster’s office. Now!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Sadie grinned at him and excitedly responded, “Yes, Sir.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The group of students stood in the Headmaster’s office. The attackers on one side, the new students on the other. Each side was yelling at one another from across the room. McGonagall and Snape had given up on trying to prevent any verbal assaults from taking place, but Dumbledore suggested they let everyone yell at each other for a couple of minutes… That was nearly half an hour ago.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re still a freak!” The girl responsible for the fight yelled over the chaos at Sadie.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Sadie screamed, “Oh my god, you act like I care.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rain added, “Well, you’re still a whore!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Shut up, I wasn’t talking to you!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Bold of you to assume I was talking to you!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Preston shouted, “She may be a freak, but she's our freak!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re insane!” The girl told him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Sadie looked at Preston, “That’s hurtful.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“At least we’re not picking random fights!” Ash interjected.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dumbledore shouted, “Silence!” Once the room fell silent he asked, “Now what happened?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Liam rolled his eyes, “I don’t even know. I didn’t ask to be part of this.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Sadie interjected, “Well, you’re one of us, so you just have to deal with it.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Technically,” Emmett interrupted, “None of us asked. They just started fighting with us.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>McGonagall asked him, “Who started fighting with you?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Emmett gestured to the group on the opposite side of the room, “Them. Those guys!” He pointed at the girl who started the incident and told the professor, “She just started picking on Sadie for absolutely no reason.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>McGonagall looked at the girl that picked the fight and asked, “Penelope, is that true?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"No it's not. I was simply trying to defend Professor Snape."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"And why might he need defending?" Dumbledore questioned her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Preston put his hand out to stop the conversation. "Wait, wait, wait. He's the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and you're going to sit here and lie by telling them you were trying to protect him from her?" He pointed down at Sadie who was standing in front of him, giving the room puppy dog eyes.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"She was following him around all day."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Ash chimed in, "No she wasn't. She was with me and Rain."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Rain and I, you mean," Penelope scoffed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rain rolled up her sleeves and began walking toward the bully, "You know what, I swear to God-"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Rain, stop!" Preston begged as he grabbed his friend’s arms and pulled her back.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>McGonagall looked at Sadie and asked, “Ms. Bell, why would you follow Professor Snape around?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Sadie stated, “He’s hot! So sue me!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The adults in the room fell silent and looked at one another while Penelope and her friends began laughing. “Oh my god, you have a crush on this guy? You really are a freak.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Stop throwing facts at me like they’re insults!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rain looked at McGonagall and said, “See! This is exactly what started it! She came in and started name calling, then she tried attacking me because I started doing it back.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>McGonagall told the students, “I think we’ve seen and heard enough for now. Penelope, Jayden, Alec, Patrick, Renee, and Chase, you’ll serve detention tomorrow afternoon with Professor Longbottom.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Penelope got angry, “Are you serious?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What makes you think we deserve detention?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dumbledore stepped in, “You were caught fighting. You and your friends are dismissed.” He looked at the second group of students and said, “Twenty-five points for each of you will be taken from your houses. Hopefully this doesn’t become a habit. You’re all dismissed.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As the students left, McGonagall looked at Dumbledore and told him, “I fear we are in for a bumpy ride with those six.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The Headmaster chuckled, “It would appear so.” He looked back to make sure they’d shut the door before telling his friend, “Well, I suppose it may be best if we keep an eye on them from the time being.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Albus, surely you don’t intend-”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, Minerva. I saw how well you handled Harry, Ron, and Hermione.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“There were only three of them at that time. They were not nearly as rambunctious as this group.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Snape interjected, “If I may, the smaller two of the group may be the only ones we should be concerned about.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What about the boy from Slytherin house?” McGonagall asked Snape as she looked at him over the top of her glasses.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dumbledore smiled, “He seemed just as fiery as the little ones.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Minerva gave Dumbledore one of her looks, “You know how I feel about these sorts of situations.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I do, Minerva.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I refuse to give Sirius the satisfaction.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A low giggle came from the corner where Snape was standing, “He really offended you with his ‘mother of lost kittens’ comment, didn’t he?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not the mother of lost kittens.” Minerva insisted.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I think it suits you," Dumbledore admitted.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Minerva rolled her eyes at him, "I'm returning to my classroom. I need to prepare for tomorrow."</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>	The group sat in a circle in the courtyard outside of the Gryffindor tower. Dinner had just wrapped up and they had some time to kill before curfew. They sat around discussing their week and what little had taken place since the altercation they’d been in. The discussion led to a few ideas being thrown about what they could do, in case they were attacked again. Of course this immediately prompted an aggressive response from each person in the group.</p><p>	Preston pulled out his wand and asked his friends, “How much trouble do you think I’ll get in for turning that blonde bitch into a rat?”</p><p>	“Probably a lot,” Ash told him.</p><p>	“As fitting as it would be, I’m pretty sure the professors would lose their shit,” Rain added.</p><p>	Sadie laughed at the idea, “I would pay good money to have someone replace her with someone else’s pet rat.”</p><p>	Rain glared at her, “Don’t tempt me.”</p><p>	Liam rubbed his temples, “We’re going to get kicked out, aren’t we?”</p><p>	“I’m not saying we should do it, but the only way we’d get into trouble is if we got caught,” Emmett spoke up.</p><p>	“Which we will.”</p><p>	Preston scoffed, “You doubt me, good sir?”</p><p>	“To be fair,” Sadie started, “You haven’t given him any reason to.”</p><p> “I certainly hope you all aren’t actually considering this.” McGonagall stepped out of the shadows.</p><p>The group jolted and Rain groaned, “Really? How long have you been standing there?”</p><p>“Long enough,” The professor told her. “I would suggest the six of you go back to your rooms and get ready for bed, rather than sitting around and plotting ways to get into trouble.”</p><p>The group agreed and slowly made their way to each of their rooms. Liam and Emmett didn’t have far to walk to the entrance of their respective houses, since one was in Gryffindor and the other, Ravenclaw. Preston followed the girls down to the lower level where the Hufflepuff and Slytherin houses slept.</p><p>As they each went their separate ways, McGonagall stood and watched until they each disappeared from her sight. She could already tell that these new students would be a handful for her. Albus had instructed Snape to help her keep an eye on them, but she was worried that wouldn't be enough.</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	The following morning the girls from Hufflepuff made their way to the Transfiguration class they had with Preston. The four of them sat in the back of the classroom, just like they did for every other class, and joked around with one another while they waited for their professor to arrive. Unfortunately, they’re happiness was short-lived as two of the guys from Penelope’s crew walked by. One of them, who they found out was named Mason, slapped Preston on the back of the head and high fived his friend, Gregory.</p><p> </p><p>	“Alright,” Preston said as he stood up. “Which one of you is dumb enough to actually try and get away with that shit?”</p><p>	Rain got up and stood next to him, “Trick question, because you’re both mentally deficient.”</p><p>	Greg, the more muscular of the pair set his sights on Rain, “Looks like someone didn’t learn their lesson the first time.”</p><p>	“Oh yeah? What lesson was that?”</p><p>	“You should learn to keep your mouth shut.”</p><p>	Sadie rolled her eyes, “Says the idiot that can’t keep his hands to himself.”</p><p>	The two male students dropped their book bags on the floor and began lumbering toward the group. The four first years made their way outside to the courtyard where a large crowd had gathered to watch what was going on. Once they were outside the classroom a fist fight ensued. Preston let them throw the first punch before tackling Gregory to the ground. Mason promptly tried pulling him off his friend, but Rain ran at him full force, knocking him several feet to the side. Ash prevented Sadie from double teaming the second bully by holding her back, only to be shoved over by Penelope herself.</p><p>	“Fuck you, bitch!” Sadie screamed as she began to chase the girl. “Come back here and fight me, you coward!”</p><p>	“Ash!” Rain yelled to her friend.</p><p>	Ash got up, brushed herself off, and said, “I know. I’ll get her.”</p><p>	By the time the mouse chase had made its way into the school, Preston had taken a few good hits to the face, but it wasn’t enough to phase him. Rain, on the other hand, was losing her side of the fight, simply because she was only half the size of the jock she was fighting. The young man was at least six feet tall and had to weigh just over two hundred pounds, due to the amount of muscle he had. Rain was shorter than most and barely measured to four and a half feet and weighed all of seventy-five pounds. He tossed her across the grass a couple times, even throwing her into a wall. Once she passed out, most certainly from a head injury, the bully turned to help his friend, only to be stopped by Sadie launching herself on his back and locking her limbs around him.</p><p>	“Bitch, you thought!” She screamed as she used her leveraging body weight to topple him over onto his right side.</p><p>	When he hit the ground, his entire body weight came down on Sadie’s shoulder, causing a loud pop and then a scream from the young girl. Ash ran over and helped her get out of the range of Mason’s punch, only to get hit in the left arm.</p><p>	“Are you kidding me?!” She yelled at him.</p><p>	He chuckled at her, as if he found it amusing that he managed to hit the only person that had been trying to stay out of the physical fight. The thought crossed his mind that if he wanted to, he could easily knock her out as well. He knew that Sadie’s broken or dislocated shoulder would prevent her from being able to get any more hits in, which would make it easy for him to swoop in and beat up Preston.</p><p>	“What is this!” They heard McGonagall yell from the sidelines. “Stop this at once!”</p><p>	The students that had been chanting for the fight fell completely silent as the professor pushed her way through the crowd, her wand out and ready to cast any spell she may need. Preston immediately backed off, blood gushing from his nose. Gregory got up, gripping at his sore right shoulder, looking around the scene of the fight and chuckling. His eyes immediately looked over at Rain, whose body was slumped over behind a bush.</p><p>	“Well at least we got one of those little shits,” He said to his friend.</p><p>	McGonagall looked in the direction she thought she’d seen Gregory looking, to find Rain unconscious near the wall,  and yelled for someone to get Madam Pomfrey. She instructed two of the older students that had stopped to watch the fight to get Rain out from behind the bush. As she knelt down to make sure the student was alive, she looked up to ask Sadie something and realized she’d been injured as well.</p><p>	“Oh no, what happened?”</p><p>	Sadie responded with tears in her eyes, “He was going to attack Preston, so I pulled him down and he fell on top of me. It really hurts.”</p><p>	Minerva looked at one of the boys that had helped move Rain and asked, “Can you please get the Headmaster? Tell him it’s urgent.” She looked at Sadie and instructed, “Come sit next to Rain. The rest of you,” She turned her attention back to the onlookers, “Get back to your classes. If you’re supposed to be in my class right now, use it as a free period.”</p><p>	As Sadie took a seat, the professor conjured a blanket and wrapped it around her. She wiped the tears from the girl’s face before turning her attention to the incapacitated student. Rain’s chest was rising and falling as she took in oxygen, so clearly she wasn’t dead. However, the fact that she hadn’t opened her eyes had Minerva worried. She conjured up a second blanket and draped it over her other student.</p><p>	“Is she going to be okay?” Sadie asked.</p><p>	“I’m sure she’ll be fine.” McGonagall assured her. She turned and asked Preston, “How much pain are you in?”</p><p>	“I’ve had worse.” He admitted.</p><p>	“Well, it’s unfortunate that you’ve experienced anything like it before.”</p><p>	He shrugged, “It is what it is.”</p><p>	By the time Pomfrey had arrived, Rain had begun to wake up. The back of her head was scraped up and bleeding a little and it was highly probable that she had a concussion. Her rib cage was hurting on the right side, which gave the school healer the impression that she had broken a rib or two. Fortunately Sadie’s shoulder was only dislocated and Madam Pomfrey was able to pop it back into place. Preston, on the other hand, appeared to have a broken nose that would have to be set after she got Rain back to the hospital wing.</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	Rain woke up in the infirmary, Professor McGonagall standing at the foot of her bed. The professor was talking with Madam Pomfrey about how long she would expect each of the students to stay for observation. Surprisingly, she only wanted Rain to stay overnight, while the others had already been released and were resting in their rooms. As the healer returned to her duties, McGonagall sat next to the bed.</p><p>	“You and your friends have had quite the experience here at Hogwarts so far.”</p><p>	“Are they okay?” Rain asked.</p><p>	Minerva nodded, “Preston came away with a broken nose and Sadie had a dislocated shoulder.” She looked at Rain over the rim of her glasses and said, “You know you got off lucky with just a concussion. He was twice your size. Why would you go after someone so much bigger than you?”</p><p>	“Because he’s an ass.”</p><p>	“Language, Miss Murphy.”</p><p>	“Sorry.” Rain cleared her throat, “They’re jerks. The entire group is.”</p><p>	“I think that is something we can both agree on.” The professor stood up and turned to leave, but stopped to inform her student, “You and your friends will be serving detention with Professor Snape after school tomorrow. The following day you will come to my classroom and help me with a few things. Count yourself lucky, because Hogwarts normally has no tolerance for this kind of behavior.”</p><p>	“It wasn’t our-”</p><p>	The professor put her hand up to stop the girl from speaking, “I know that Penelope and her friends have been causing problems with you and your friends, but the fact still remains that both groups participated in a physical fight.”</p><p>	Rain asked, “Are they going to do anything about what happened?”</p><p>	“Twenty points are being taken from each house for each student involved. I don’t know if detention will do anything in this case, but if so, you each will be held in different rooms. We don’t need another fight to break out.”</p><p>	There were a few minutes of quiet shared between them before Rain asked her, “Why haven’t they done anything about us being bullied?”</p><p>	The professor sat down and took her student’s hand, “I promise we are doing our best to find a solution. I’ve checked in with your friends and assured them I want this matter resolved. Hogwarts is supposed to be a safe place for young witches and wizards.” Rain’s expression didn’t change and she added, “I will do my best to keep an eye on your friends, Miss Murphy.”</p><p>	Rain gave her a halfhearted smile, “Thanks, Professor.”</p><p>	“Get some rest, I’ll stop by to take you back to your room in the morning, alright?”</p><p>	As Rain rolled over and closed her eyes, Minerva pulled the blanket up over her student’s shoulders. This group of students reminded her a lot of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. She was fighting the urge to play favorites, but she couldn’t help it. There was something about this group of first years that made it hard not to. They had spunk. Maybe that was it.</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>That night, Sadie and Ash were in the common room, talking about the fight.</p><p>“So Sadie, what happened with Penelope? Last I saw, you took off after her into the castle.”</p><p>“Yeah but she knows the castle better than I do,” She shrugs. “I lost her pretty fast. I bet she hid in an abandoned classroom or something.”</p><p>“Well it's a good thing you came back when you did cause Preston would have been seriously messed up if you didn’t take that guy out.”</p><p>“ I think it’s more like he took me out” Sadie winced, rubbing her shoulder.</p><p>“How is your shoulder now? Does it still hurt?”</p><p>“I mean, it's sore but nothing too bad. It would hurt a lot worse if we didn’t have Madam Pomfrey here.”</p><p>They sat, watching the fire for a minute.</p><p>“How do you think Rain is doing? And Preston? His nose looked really bad.”</p><p>“I think Rain is fine. She is in the infirmary. The nurse will take care of her there. I don’t know about Preston though.”</p><p>“I wish there was a way we could talk to him but it's not like we can text him. This is so inconvenient.” Sadie slumps into the couch. “If I sneak out to go see him will you come with me?”</p><p>“I’m sure he's fine Sadie. We will see him in the morning anyway.”</p><p>“I’m gonna go see him.”</p><p>Ash looked at Sadie confused.</p><p>“You are going to get caught and we are going to get into trouble.”</p><p>“No we won’t. Come on. It's just a quick trip. We sneak down there, see how Preston is doing and sneak back out. It's not even that far. It's just across the entrance hall and back.”</p><p>Ash didn't look convinced.</p><p>“Please? Don’t make me go alone. What if Penelope and her goons find me? I can’t take them on by myself. Pease?” </p><p>With a smile Sadie grabbed Ash’s hand and held it in her own, giving her the biggest puppy dog eyes she can..</p><p>“I’ll owe you forever!”</p><p>“Ok, fine. But we have to be quick about it. I don’t want to get caught by a teacher”</p><p>“Yes! We won’t, I promise. Lets go!”</p><p>They made their way into the corridor and checked if the coast was clear. Not seeing anyone around, they head towards the entrance hall. </p><p>“Man, this place is creepy at night. And it's so cold. I should have brought a jacket.”</p><p>“Sadie, will you be quiet? You are going to get us caught.”</p><p>“Sorry.”</p><p>	They made it across the entrance hall and into the dungeons without being seen. They wandered around the dungeon for about 10 minutes until they stopped in an empty corridor.</p><p>	“Do you even know how to get into the Slytherin common room?”</p><p>	“Um, not really.”</p><p>	Ash looked at Sadie incredulously.</p><p>	“I’m sorry! I didn't even think about that before coming out here.” </p><p>	“Sadie! Are you kidding me? We are going to get in so much trouble!”</p><p>	“You already are.”</p><p>	The girls jumped backwards at the sound of a familiar voice. Professor Snape stepped out of the darkness of the corridor, a lit wand in his hand. </p><p>	“And what would two little Hufflepuffs be doing out after curfew, and in my dungeons no less?”</p><p>	“Oh Professor Snape. Thank god it's you. I was just coming to ask you out for a walk in the moonlight.”</p><p>Snape and Ash shared a look as Sadie continued talking.</p><p>“But it looks like you’re busy so I guess we'll just go back to the common room. Have a good night Professor.”</p><p>Sadie grabbed Ash’s arm and tried to steer her towards the exit.</p><p>“I don’t think you will be going anywhere Miss Bell. You have been caught out, after curfew and I do believe you were trying to find your way into another house’s dormitories.”</p><p>“Who said that? No one said that.”</p><p>Snape scowled down at the two children. </p><p>“I think it would be best if you leave the dungeon at once. And don’t make any unnecessary stops on the way there.”</p><p>“And what about necessary ones?” Sadie sidles up to Snape.</p><p>“Go to bed, Miss Thompson and take Miss Bell with you.” </p><p>Ash grabs Sadie and drags her away from the professor.</p><p>“Why would you say that Sadie? It is so creepy.”</p><p>“What do you mean? I just got us away without detention or house points being taken away.”</p><p>“Oh and Miss Thompson.” </p><p>The girls turn back towards the Professor.</p><p>“20 points from Hufflepuff. Each.”</p><p>“Damn it.”</p><p>“Thanks Sadie.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter Three</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next several weeks that followed went by with multiple incidents. Detention seemed to  become a semi regular thing for the two groups. Despite the first years trying to be polite and avoid any further confrontation, it had become apparent to the faculty that the group of older students were targeting them. This became somewhat of a concern for the two professors left in charge of the younger students. Snape was mostly just irritated with the bullies making him do more work, while McGonagall genuinely feared for their safety. </p><p>“Something has to be done about these older students, Albus,” Minerva stated as she paced the floor of her classroom. “All six of these new students have ended up with serious injuries. Preston and Emmett almost died last week when they were attacked by Penelope’s friends.”</p><p>Dumbledore agreed, “I know, but there isn’t much that I can do. Her father has some very powerful friends. We don’t have any other option than to keep a closer eye on them and make sure they don’t get attacked again.”</p><p>	“Albus, I was watching them last time. I turned away for a second to break up a couple of students who were snogging in the hall. Next thing I knew, there was a fist fight.”</p><p>	Snape almost growled, “Animals, all of them.”</p><p>	“It would be wise for you to keep a handle on the students from the Slytherin house that are responsible for the harassment. After all, this wouldn’t be happening if you had done your job in the first place.” Minerva told him, trying to keep her emotions in check.</p><p>	“If things don’t calm down around here, I may be forced to send the group of first years back home.” Dumbledore announced.</p><p>	A huff escaped Minerva before she told her friend, “You and I both know that’s not fair to them. Besides, where are they going to go? We aren’t even sure of where they came from or how they got here.”</p><p>	“I’m not sure of what else to do, Min.”</p><p>	“There has to be something we’ve overlooked.”</p><p>	“Well, Minnie,” Sirius Black’s voice came from the doorway, “There’s always the option to have you look after them.”</p><p>	Minerva spun around and greeted her friend with a warm embrace, “Sirius, how are you?”</p><p>	“I’m not so bad these days, how about yourself?”</p><p>	“Oh, I’m alright.”</p><p>	“Rumor has it that there’s a group of students here that have been having a rough go of things,” Sirius looked at Minerva, “I was almost certain you would have scooped them up by now.”</p><p>	“She would have, had you not made that comment,” Snape told him with a smirk.</p><p>	“Which comment?”</p><p>	“The mother of kittens.”</p><p>	Sirius rolled back onto his heels, “Ah, yes.” He looked at the older woman, “But there is some truth to it.”</p><p>	Minerva rolled her eyes, “They are not lost kittens and I am not their mother. If I wanted to be a mum, I would have had children of my own.”</p><p>	The three men in the room fell silent. They all knew that deep down Minerva had wanted to have children with her late husband. However, his untimely death forced her to change her life plans and set new goals for herself. They knew she took care of them because she had some maternal instinct, despite her insisting she didn’t know how to take care of children other than to teach them.</p><p>	“I think it would be a smart decision to have you look after them,” Sirius told Minerva. “I know you don’t like the surrogate mom role, but if any of these kids here need some mothering, it’s that group.”</p><p>	Albus smiled, “I have to agree. However, I feel inclined to ask how you know about these students?”</p><p>	Sirius pointed to Snape, “Someone may have mentioned them.”</p><p>	McGonagall looked at Snape in shock, “You asked Sirius to come and talk me into looking after them?”</p><p>	“Oh not just me, Moony’s here too.”</p><p>	Snape looked at the new company, expressionless, “Oh great.”</p><p>	“Albus, I can’t look after six children alone,” Minerva said, “I can keep them in line in a classroom, but I don’t know what to do with them outside of one, especially with this particular group.”</p><p>	Dumbledore nodded, “That’s why I contacted Sirius and Remus. I will be requesting that they, along with Professor Snape, help you out. On occasion I will even have Hagrid stop by to take them off your hands for you. He’s good with the students.”</p><p>	“Then why not have him look after them?”</p><p>	He chuckled, “Magical creatures will only hold their attention for so long. They pay attention to you when you teach, so I don’t think you’ll have a problem keeping them on track and out of trouble.”</p><p>	Minerva sighed in defeat, “Do I even have a choice at this point?”</p><p>	Snape turned to leave, “It would appear not.”</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	“We’re going into the Forbidden Forest?” Ash questioned Professor McGonagall.</p><p>	They were standing on the edge of the forest. As the sun set, the forest floor looked even darker than usual, the fading light not reaching the ground inside the leaf cover.</p><p>	Liam said, “I thought first year students weren’t allowed in here.”</p><p>	“I didn’t think anyone was allowed in here,” added Emmett under his breath.</p><p>	Minerva stopped as they reached the treeline, “Under normal circumstances, no. However, Dumbledore has granted me permission to bring you all in here for the time being. This is the best way to ensure your safety.”</p><p>	“By taking us into a forest full of things that want to kill us?” Preston asked.</p><p>	Before Minerva could respond, Rain chimed in, “I’ve never had to run to death in order to get away from it.”</p><p>	The professor’s patience was already wearing thin. Of all the teachers at Hogwarts, they just had to pick her to look after this group of students. She turned to look at them, study their faces and their expressions before crossing the threshold. They looked just as nervous as she felt. It had been a while since she’d walked around these woods and she never thought she’d be living in them</p><p>	Sadie exclaimed, “Let’s go! I wanna see a unicorn!”</p><p>	The tone of her student’s voice reminded the professor that these were students who didn’t have any knowledge of the magical world before their arrival at Hogwarts. They had no idea what kinds of creatures inhabited the forest behind her. She turned around and led them into the darkened woods. The light from their wands illuminated enough for her to see a fair distance in front of her. Luckily they managed to make it to their new home before what little sunlight was coming through the trees disappeared as night fell.</p><p>	The group entered what appeared to be a tiny cabin on the outside, but inside it was much larger. A common room, kitchen, and dining area greeted them. The left wall was covered in floor to ceiling windows. The kitchen took up half of that wall and the windows stopped at the top of the counters, letting in a view of the forest from the whole left side of the cabin.  Along the back wall was a fireplace and on either side sat two doors. Minerva instructed the girls to sleep in one room and the boys to sleep in the other. The professor herself had a room off of the dining room, to the right,which t had its own bathroom and a small office. Next to the kitchen, which sat to the left, was a small seating area facing the fireplace. A door to the shared bathroom sat next to the master bedroom to the right.</p><p>	“Wait a minute,” Preston started, “Does this mean we have free rein of the forest?”</p><p>	“Obviously not,” She scoffed. “Don’t go so far that you can’t see the cottage. We made sure to place charms around the perimeter so that nothing dangerous could get in.”</p><p>	Rain asked, “Who’s ‘we’?”</p><p>	“Professor Snape, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black.”</p><p>	Sadie giggled nervously, “You mean Snape here?”</p><p>	“Girl, you need to chill.” Preston said, giving his friend a little side eye.</p><p>	Minerva simply rolled her eyes and told the group, ‘I’m going to get dinner started”</p><p>	“What are we having?” Sadie asked.</p><p>	“That is up to you.”</p><p>	Preston shrugged, “I’d suggest pizza, but I don’t think Domino’s delivers out here.”</p><p>	“I think it’s safe to say no one delivers food out here… Ever,” Liam responded.</p><p>	Rain announced, “I just want spicy food. I want it so hot, I regret it in the morning.”</p><p>	“We all gotta share this place with you. Please don’t make us regret it too,” Preston told her.</p><p>	“I just want to eat fire!”</p><p>	“But you can’t!”</p><p>	The professor put her hands up to silence the group, “I just need an idea of what to make.”</p><p>	“Spaghetti and meatballs?” Ash offered, unsure of what the professors cooking abilities were.</p><p>	Rain excitedly added, “That means we have to have garlic bread too.”</p><p>	“Well, we don’t have to. It does go well with it, though.”</p><p>	Sadie looked him dead in the eye and insisted, “No, we have to. It’s a rule. If you have spaghetti and meatballs, you have to have garlic bread.”</p><p>	Minerva interrupted, “I’ll add them to the list. Just go outside while I cook. I don’t need a herd of hippogriffs running through the kitchen, distracting me. I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”</p><p>	The professor watched as the group of students ran out the open door and into the forest. They recently figured out how to play what they referred to as ‘wizard tag’ and decided that would be a good way to pass the time. The rules were simple. One person was ‘it’, they were the only one allowed to use their wand, anytime someone crossed their path they would cast a simple spell that sent a small, firefly size orb of light in their direction. The players who were supposed to be running had to dodge the light, or else they’d be the new ‘it’.</p><p>	Minerva watched them as they played for a few minutes, making sure they didn’t go too far out of her field of view from the doorway. For the first time in days they seemed to be able to have fun without worrying about Penelope and her friends barging in and ruining their free time. A smile spread across her face as she watched Sadie chasing Emmett, yelling at him to let her tag him.</p><p>	“You know, for someone who doesn’t want to be a mother, you sure do act like one,” She heard Sirius’ voice come from the left.</p><p>	She turned her head to look at him, “It’s natural for anyone to enjoy seeing children be happy. Especially this group. I assume Severus told you about what’s been going on?”</p><p>	Sirius nodded, “He may have mentioned something about two of the boys being attacked.”</p><p>	“They were almost killed. The two smallest ones have taken a few good hits, the tallest of the girls spent a night in the infirmary after being poisoned, because she refused to fight.” Minerva sighed, “They’ve had a rough go so far. I think it’s only fair that they get to enjoy themselves a bit.”</p><p>	Sirius smiled at her, “Whatever the reason, it’s good to see you smile. It’s been a while.”</p><p>	The professor couldn’t argue his point, because she knew there was some truth to it. The Second Wizarding War had taken its toll on her and she found it difficult to smile most days. She knew she was intentionally putting up walls to make sure she never had to lose another student she cared so much for ever again, but if Sirius could see through her, maybe she wasn’t doing a good job of preventing herself from getting too attached.</p><p>	Just as she was getting lost in her own thoughts, Remus approached the pair. “What’s this?” He asked, gesturing at the group of students running around.</p><p>	Minerva’s smile returned to her face, “It’s a game they made up.”</p><p>	Remus looked from Sirius to Minerva, then said, “You know, if you name them you’ll get attached.”</p><p>	The woman’s smile faded slightly, “Yes. I know.”</p><p>	“I’m sorry, I just meant you’ll miss them during holiday breaks and after they finish their schooling here at Hogwarts.”</p><p>	“It’s okay Remus.” She turned to go back inside and told the two men, “I’m going to cook dinner. Can one of you stay out here and watch to make sure they don’t go too far?”</p><p>	Sirius already knew his friend would enjoy running around far more, “I’ll help you cook. Snape should be here soon.”</p><p>	“Good, we have to make enough food for everyone, so the more of us there are in the kitchen, the better.”</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *<br/>
After dinner, the kids went to their respective rooms, finding their belongings already sitting at the foot of their beds. The room was a good size. The three beds against the wall all had matching comforters on them. Their red color had slightly faded over time but they were clean and well taken care of so they didn’t mind. The girls moved over to their beds and started unpacking their clothes, moving them to the dresser and wardrobe on the opposite wall. There was a big window in between them, just big enough for a kid to climb out of.</p><p>	“Magic is so cool”, said Rain.</p><p>	“It sure is convenient,” Ash commented.</p><p>	“Imagine if we had to carry our bags through the forest”, replied Sadie, throwing herself dramatically onto the bed. “We never would have made it. We would have died.”</p><p>	Once everything was put away, and they had changed into their sleep clothes, they laid in bed staring at the ceiling deep in thought. </p><p>	“Hey guys,” a voice called out from the next room.</p><p>	“Yeah Preston?” responded Sadie.</p><p>	“Should we talk about what we are going to do?”</p><p>	“Probably a good idea,” Ashed whispered to the room.</p><p>	“I guess” Sadie called as the boys entered the room.</p><p>	The boys piled onto the floor with matching blankets and pillows from their beds in the other room. Ash sat up in bed and she watched the guys stretch themselves out on the ground, getting comfortable, as Sadie and Rain laid down on their stomachs at the foot of their beds. The room was quiet while everyone gathered their thoughts.</p><p>	Liam broke the silence. “So, who's gonna go first?”</p><p>	I will, I guess,” Preston took a breath. “I know we are all wondering if we are going to try to get home. I know we all have family there and people that we care about, but we have to consider the fact that we are kids again. Even if there was a way to get home we probably wouldn’t find out how for a long time.”</p><p>	Emmett cut in, “Also that would mean we would have to tell the adults about all this if we wanted their help, if it is even possible”</p><p>	There it was, the elephant in the room. With those 5 words so casually thrown away, all of their greatest fears were summed up. What if they couldn’t get home? What if, even if they could go home, everything was different? Did their world just stop existing as soon as they left? After all, life is perspective and from where these six kids were sitting, it didn’t look great. Their families, pets, jobs, and homes were gone. Even if they did get back, would everything be the same or would the time they spent here change everything that they had built there?</p><p>	Silence filled the room as that statement settled around them.</p><p>	“I miss Jeremiah,” Sadie said as tears filled her eyes. “I miss Thomas, and my mom and sister, and I even miss work.”</p><p>	Rain could see that Sadie was holding on by a thread so she moved to her bed and wrapped her arms around her. With one touch, she fell apart. The sounds of her crying were the only sound any of them made. Rain and Ash had tears in their eyes as they thought of all they had lost too. Preston and Emmett were looking at the floor, while Liam looked out the window, thinking of all the things they might not experience again. Everyone had someone they missed and faces they will never see again. Sadie released Rain and moved to Ash’s bed.</p><p>	“Why am I crying when everyone has lost the lives they built?’ Sadie took a breath. “God, I feel so selfish, wallowing in self pity over here while everyone is probably just as upset. I’m sorry I’m such a mess guys.”</p><p>	“No need to apologize,” Preston took her hand. “Everyone handles stuff differently. It's better than holding it all in”</p><p>	Sadie took a couple of breaths and was able to calm down.</p><p>	“Alright, so now that that is over,” she smiled weakly, “We need a plan. First things first, are we going to try to get home or are we going to restart our lives here?”</p><p>The kids made eye contact with each other, trying to gage what they were thinking between them before they answered. </p><p>Emmett spoke first. “We don’t even know if it is possible to get back” </p><p>“True but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try,” Sadie answered.</p><p>Rain got a solemn look on her face. “I don’t want to spend my life here trying to get back, only to find out it's not possible later on down the road. If we live here, we should live here.”</p><p>Preston nodded, “Rains right. We can’t waste our time here on something that might not happen.”</p><p>“Really, Preston? You think we should just turn our backs on everything back home and not even try?” Ash questioned, anger clouding her expression.</p><p>“I’m not saying that. I'm just saying that maybe we should live in the here and now. You know, make the most of this fresh start.” He shrugged his shoulders.</p><p>	“How about we live the best we can here, learn as much as we can, and if it is possible, then we go back,” Emmett reasoned. “But if it is not, then we live out our lives here.”</p><p>	“That makes sense,” Rain looked around as everyone nodded. </p><p>“We should probably get some sleep guys,” Ash yawned. “We have flying class tomorrow and god knows Sadie is gonna need all the help she can get”</p><p>“Hey!” Sadie pointed at Ash, as everyone chuckled. “Mean!”</p><p> </p><p>	Everyone moved to get into bed, or the blankets that they brought from the other room, and settled down for the night, still thinking of what used to be and what had yet to come.</p><p>A small voice comes out of the darkness;</p><p>“Hey guys,” Sadie whispered. “Do you think that we will get in trouble for you guys being in here?”</p><p>	“Nah” Preston responded. “I think it's fine.”</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	It was just after midnight and Minerva hadn’t been able to sleep. Snape and Sirius had left hours ago, while Lupin offered to stay for a little while longer and make sure everything was in order for the following morning, but even he turned in for the evening an hour or two after the others. She’d got up to check in on everyone a few times already, all of her students were fast asleep.</p><p>A knock at the door drew her attention from the fire burning in the fireplace. She got up, but before she could answer, Sirius walked in. He carefully shut the door behind him, knowing that everyone else was already asleep. Certain that the door was secured, he turned around and greeted Minerva with a grin.</p><p>“Is everything alright?” Minerva asked.</p><p>	“I just wanted to stop by and check in. Remus seems to think you’re stressing out over the students.”</p><p>	The professor rolled her eyes, “Of course.” She motioned for him to sit with her by the fire. “I’m concerned for my students.”</p><p>	Sirius nodded and told her, “I assume you’ve come to enjoy this particular group.” He pointed in the direction of their rooms and added, “You know it’s okay to admit that you like them. They’re great kids.”</p><p>	Minerva smiled, “They are. Very creative with their magic too. They remind me a lot of some of my previous students.”</p><p>	“I’m sure they’ll come to appreciate you the same way as Harry, Hermione, and Ron did.” He sat in his chair and watched the flames dance briefly. “I know you’re already attached to them, that’s fine, but will you be alright if something happens to them?”</p><p>	The woman seemed shocked by his statement, “What do you mean?”</p><p>	“I’m just wondering how you’ll react if this other group of students manages to hurt them again. The rumors spreading around Hogwarts make it sound as though they’re out for blood, simply because their ring leader has a crush on Professor Snape.”</p><p>	“As upsetting as it will be, I don’t intend to let my emotions get in the way and cloud my judgement.”</p><p>	Sirius gave her an unbelieving look, “You wouldn’t have any problem with them getting hurt? Minerva, I think you’re lying to yourself. You care a lot more about these children than you’re letting on. I know it, Snape knows it, even Remus caught on.”</p><p>	Minerva’s eyes shot in his direction, “You think you know-”</p><p>	Sirius put his hands up, “I’m sorry. I overstepped. Just know we’re here for you and the students.”</p><p>	“Thank you, Sirius.” Minerva looked over at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room. “Now if you don’t mind, I need to get some sleep.”</p><p>	Sirius stood up from his chair and made his way to the front door, the professor following behind him. “I’ll be back in the morning with Remus. He says he wants to give them the lesson on werewolves sooner rather than later.”</p><p>	Minerva nodded, “I agree. There’s supposed to be a full moon in a few days. I can’t imagine he’ll feel up to teaching them anything after tomorrow.”</p><p>	“He seemed pretty exhausted when he left tonight.”</p><p>	The professor chuckled, “That’s because he was chasing around six children that have the energy of a jarvey in a gnome patch.” Sirius let out a guttural laugh, which caused Minerva to immediately shove him out to the front of the cottage and close the door behind her. “You have to be quiet, they’re sleeping.”</p><p>	Sirius raised an eyebrow, “You certainly do care for them a great deal more than you’re willing to admit. I’ll see you in the morning, Minnie.”</p><p>	The professor gave him a quick squeeze on the arm before returning inside. Maybe she should have admitted to him that she cared deeply for these children and the fear of something happening to them was, indeed, affecting her more than she had initially thought it would. She’d always wanted to have children, but never got around to it, so her students were the closest thing she had.</p><p>	As she closed the front door, a small voice came from the middle of the common room, asking, “Was that Sirius?”</p><p>	McGonagall spun around to see Sadie standing near the fireplace, “You’re supposed to be in bed.”</p><p>	“I told you, you’d get in trouble!” Rain yelled from the bedroom.</p><p>	“Come back to bed!” Preston shouted.</p><p>	Minerva asked, “Are the boys in your room?”</p><p>	“We couldn’t sleep, so they came over to our room when you, Sirius, Snape, and Remus went outside to talk after we went to bed,” Sadie told her.</p><p>	The professor sighed as she turned her student around and guided her back to the room they were all sleeping in. Using her wand, she lit up the room to reveal her three male students sleeping on the floor. Emmet and Liam were already laying back down while Ash, Rain, and Preston were sat up, waiting for Sadie. She waited until the girl was back in bed before telling them one last goodnight.</p><p>As she turned away she heard Preston chuckle ”See, I told you it would be fine”</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *</p><p>	Emmett ran behind a tree as Sadie shot an orb of light in his direction. They woke up early just so they could get in a game of Wizard Tag before breakfast, hoping that Remus would join in once he arrived. It had only been twenty-three minutes and Sadie had been tagged at least five times. She was bound and determined to get the only person who hadn’t been tagged yet, Emmett. Ash took off in the opposite direction of their home, hoping that sticking close to the perimeter would ensure her safety.</p><p>	“I wouldn’t go too much further,” Snape called from several feet away.</p><p>	The young girl turned to see her professors walking through the trees and quickly turned back in the direction of her friends to announce, “They’re here!”</p><p>	Everyone stopped what they were doing and ran to the edge of the safe zone, waiting for the three men to get closer. Minerva had already stepped out of the front door to look out at her students waiting so excitedly. She’d spent the morning making breakfast and making sure everything was ready for her lesson later that day. Rolanda Hooch had offered to teach them in the morning right after breakfast. It was the only chance that they would be able to get out to the training grounds, without being harassed by Penelope and her friends.</p><p>	“Breakfast is ready, everyone come inside!” McGonagall called out.</p><p>	The students walked back to the house, the other three professors right behind them. Everyone except Lupin looked like they were ready to get their day started. It wasn’t just the adults that knew he wasn’t feeling well, the children could even sense that something was off. Sadie spent her entire morning meal offering to get him something to drink and tried to convince him to eat some food.</p><p>	Once everyone had finished eating, McGonagall instructed her students to follow Sirius to the path where they would meet Hagrid and walk to the training grounds. The students happily got up and followed the man out the front door and into the woods. Just to be certain that they would be alright, Remus decided to follow closely behind. With everyone else gone, Snape decided to help Minerva clean and set up the room for classes that day. He conjured up a chalk board near the table, a stand beside it that had all the supplies he would need for their Potions lesson, and even made sure all of their books were stacked neatly in front of each chair. He spent the better part of an hour looking over his itinerary and lesson plan to ensure he had everything he needed.</p><p>	“You seem to enjoy looking after them,” He stated.</p><p>	“Not you too,” Minerva sighed as she began picking up the dishes and putting them in the sink.</p><p>	Snape scoffed, “You’re cleaning up by hand, you tuck them into bed, you even cook for them.”</p><p>	“I like a tidy home and need to make sure they actually go to bed.”</p><p>	He knew she was just making excuses, but decided he wouldn’t push the issue too much. Sirius had already tried to get her to admit to her feelings toward this particular group of students, but she was fighting against it. They knew the war had left her with plenty of trauma that she still hadn’t recovered from, maybe that was why it was so difficult. Perhaps he needed to try and get one last answer.</p><p>	“Do you still feel responsible for the students who died?” He asked, sounding almost cold, but trying to convey how dumbfounded he would be for her blaming herself. </p><p>	Minerva froze as she fought back tears in a mix of sadness and anger, “Severus, I’m not talking about this.” She moved around the table, getting closer to her room, trying to escape the conversation.</p><p>	“You have to talk about it at some point, or else it’ll eat you up inside,” said Severus, following her, “Is that why you don’t want to admit to what is happening? We can all see you care for these students a great deal, but you clearly have a wall up that is doing you more harm than good.”</p><p>	The woman lost control of her emotions and shouted, “Why do you care?”</p><p>	“Because I love you!”</p><p>	The cottage fell completely silent as Snape's expression changed to that of horror and embarrassment. How could he be so stupid as to blurt out a confession of that magnitude in the middle of an argument. He turned and left through the front door, leaving it wide open to reveal Lupin approaching the cottage. Quickly Minerva wiped the tears from her face and did her best to gather herself. She was a little embarrassed about her outburst and was trying to calm down. The other professor’s words hadn’t even hit her yet. The realization of what just happened hit her and Lupin stepped into the house.</p><p>	“Snape looked more disturbed than usual, is everything alright?”</p><p>	McGonagall anxiously turned towards the sink full of dishes and told him, “Yes, he’s just in a mood.”</p><p>	Lupin, being curious, asked, “Did you two get into an argument?”</p><p>	“You could say that,” She replied without looking away from her chore.</p><p>	The gentleman picked up his glass of water from the dining table, pulled up a chair, and sat a few feet away from her. She seemed flustered and maybe a tad bit upset. He observed her for a short time and noticed that she almost seemed to be cleaning in order to avoid something. It must have been something Snape said to her while they were arguing. The three men had discussed Minerva’s actions for a while the previous night, because she was behaving differently than normal. It was almost as if she wanted to let down her guard enough to care for this new group of students, but she wanted to hide her feelings and emotions at the same time. They were all still healing from the war, but Minerva was having a really difficult time. If anything it seemed as though she could use a friend to side with her.</p><p>	“I’m sure he didn’t mean anything he said,” Lupin finally offered as he took a drink from his cup.</p><p>	Minerva put the dish in her hand back down in the sink, put her hands on the edge of the counter to lean on, and told him, “He told me he loves me.”</p><p>	Lupin choked, “He what?”</p><p>	The woman sighed, “He told me that he loves me.”</p><p>	“Okay,” Lupin looked away as he thought of what to tell her. “Well, he probably meant that.”</p><p>	“Do you think so?” Minerva questioned, uncertain. “He hasn’t been acting any differently than before the start of term.”</p><p>	“He is spending all of his free time here, even though he has a full schedule, so he can take care of the students that his house is terrorizing. Nevermind the fact that he is working side by side with Sirius. He is clearly trying to impress someone, and I know it's not me.”</p><p>	“He doesn’t need to impress me,” whispered Minerva. “He has done so much already, with the war and the rebuilding of the castle. How could anyone not be impressed by that?”</p><p>	“Not everyone takes the time to look for the good in people when it's easier to just assume the worst of someone”, Lupin went out on a limb, “Is the feeling mutual?”</p><p>	Minerva scoffed at the idea, “Of course not. Don’t be foolish, Remus.”</p><p>	He chuckled at how defensive she got over a mere inquiry about a potential romantic interest. Excusing himself, he made his way outside to get some fresh air. Minerva was a private person and didn’t open up to people very often, so her reaction was a good indication that the feeling was mutual, just not as strong on her side. As he walked away from the cabin, he knew one thing for sure, he was going to keep an eye on those two.</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *</p><p>	Ash’s grip tightened on her broom as she maneuvered her way around the obstacle course Professor Hooch had set up for them. The six of them had become far more comfortable with flying since their first lesson and Hooch was pushing them to see just how good they were. They all rose to the challenge, but Ash, Emmett, and Preston were definitely the most skilled. Liam didn’t really care for flying, Sadie was clumsy and it affected how comfortable she was with her broom, and Rain had a difficult time when it came to flying more than a few feet off the ground.</p><p>	“I see they let you off your leashes,” Penelope’s voice echoed through the stadium.</p><p>	Ash flew over to her group of friends and asked, “Is that supposed to be an insult?”</p><p>	Preston nodded and in mock horror responded, “I think she’s calling us dogs.”</p><p>	“Well that’s convenient, since she’s the only bitch I see here,” Sadie shouted in Penelope’s direction.</p><p>	“Better to be a bitch than a whore!” She quipped back.</p><p>	“Come up here and say that to my face you coward!”</p><p>	“I would, but I don’t want to catch your fleas.”</p><p>	Sadie landed with her broom and immediately ran at the blonde bully standing in the archway. The other students tried to catch up so they could stop her, but she’d launched herself at their antagonist. They watched as Sadie pinned Penelope to the ground and threw one punch, then two, then three. Penelope threw out a few threats about what she would do in retaliation before landing a solid punch to Sadie’s left eye. As she staggered back, the older student pulled out her wand in an attempt to cast a spell.</p><p>	“What is going on?” They heard Hooch coming up from behind Penelope.</p><p>	“She came up and started trash talking again,” Sadie told the instructor.</p><p>	The professor nodded, “Alright, you and the others start walking back home, Miss Selwyn can make her way to the Headmasters office.”</p><p>	“You’re so fucking lucky!” Sadie screamed as Preston began pulling her back towards the rest of the group.</p><p>	They could hear Penelope mutter something as she wiped the blood away from her nose. Sadie continued to yell at the bully as her friends guided her out of the training grounds and into the hallways of the school. Sirius followed behind them a few paces, having been talking with the other professor as they watched the students during their flying lesson. He knew Minerva was going to be upset about what just happened, but it’s not like they could just cancel their flying lessons.</p><p>	“I don’t even know why we come here for our lessons,” Ash said, almost as if she knew what Sirius had been thinking about.</p><p>	“Why can’t we just fly around at home?” Rain whined.</p><p>	Preston nodded, “It would certainly make life easier.”</p><p>	“I can talk with the others and see what they think about that idea,” Sirius told them. “It may take some convincing, but I think it might be a possible alternative.”</p><p>	Sadie growled, “I don’t care. All I know is I want Penelope to just break her goddamn neck at this point.”</p><p>	“So much rage for someone so small.”</p><p>	“Yeah well, it has to go somewhere!”</p><p>	As they made their way back to the cottage, they discussed the option of taking flying lessons in the Forbidden Forest with McGonagall teaching them, if Hooch was unable to make the journey. The other possibility would be for them to teach themselves while one of the adults supervised to make sure they were safe. Sirius didn’t mind looking after them to give Minerva a break. He knew she deeply cared about these students, but he was more concerned about her burning out. She was throwing herself into mothering six children for months at a time, almost single handedly.</p><p>	The cottage door was wide open when they arrived a short time later and they could all see Minerva sitting at the table. She greeted them as they walked in one by one. Sirius quickly pulled Sadie back and moved her behind him before McGonagall could see the black eye that had begun to show during their journey back home. He approached Minerva, the student walking behind him so that she would be hidden. She opened her mouth to say something to him just as he sidestepped and Sadie made direct eye contact with her professor.</p><p>	“What in the name of Merlin happened?” Minerva asked as she stepped forward to get a better look at Sadie’s eye. “Did you fall off your broom?”</p><p>	“Wouldn’t have been as cool,” Preston told her.</p><p>	Minerva shot a look at Sirius.</p><p>	“Rolanda and I were having a discussion. Penelope showed up and before either of us could do anything about it… well…” He gestured at Sadie.</p><p>	“What does Penelope have to do with your black eye, Sadie?”</p><p>	The child winced as McGonagall touched around the area of her injury, “I may have punched her.”</p><p>	Rain added, “A lot.”</p><p>	Minerva was speechless for a moment, “You assaulted another student? Sadie you-.”</p><p>	“Yeah, well she shouldn’t have such a punchable face.”</p><p>	Sirius interrupted, “Penelope drew her wand.”</p><p>	“She what?” The professor looked at her friend.</p><p>	“She was just mad that I was winning.”</p><p>	Minerva instructed her students to go outside with Lupin and begin their lesson on Werewolfry. She walked them to the door and waited until they were outside before she let down her guard enough to display a small amount of her stress level. With one hand on her hip and the other holding her forehead, she turned in and looked at the man she’d expected to protect her students.</p><p>	“I know it’s not what you wanted-”</p><p>	Minerva cut him off, “Not what I wanted?” She scoffed at him, “Sirius Black, you let one of my children get into a fight with an older student that’s been trying to them since they got here.”</p><p>	Sirius smiled and responded, “Your children?”</p><p>	“Yes. My children. “</p><p>	“So you do like them! I knew it!”</p><p>	“Sirius Black! This isn’t about how I feel toward them. This is about you not paying attention when I trusted you to protect them for me. I can’t be everywhere and do everything.”</p><p>	The man nodded, “You’re right, I’m sorry. I took my eyes off them for a second so I could speak with Rolanda.”</p><p>	Minerva sighed in surrender, “What happened with Penelope?”</p><p>	“The only thing I know is that Penelope was told to go see Dumbledore.” There was a long pause before he added, “I was thinking, maybe there’s a better way to go about teaching them how to fly. I know it’s not ideal, but I think it may be better to teach them here, at the cottage.”</p><p>	“How would we teach them here? There’s not enough space.”</p><p>	“That’s just it! They’ve been running obstacle courses, so they know how to maneuver within tight spaces.”</p><p>	“I don’t thi-”</p><p>	“This way they can get familiar with the area surrounding the cottage as well.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter Four</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>	The group of McGonagall’s first year students laid in their beds and listened to the thunder rolling in the distance. It wasn’t too long before lightning began to flash and would light up the room. Their professor checked in on them a couple of times before retiring for the evening with Professor Snape. All six students knew what was going to be happening inside and outside of the cottage. It was a full moon and Lupin had disappeared long before the sun did. Sirius stuck around for dinner, but he left after a short goodbye and headed deeper into the Forbidden Forest. Snape had helped McGonagall clean up after dinner in hopes of getting to spend more time with her.</p><p>	“Ugh!” Sadie exclaimed, “I can’t just sleep!”</p><p>	“Well, try,” Liam told her as he rolled over onto his stomach and tried to fall asleep.</p><p>	“I can’t! Professor Lupin is out there all alone as a werewolf!”</p><p>	Ash tried to reassure her friend, “Sirius is with him.”</p><p>	“Yeah, but I’m not! What better way to prove to him I don’t care that he’s a werewolf, than to see him in his werewolf form!”</p><p>	“Well, he could kill you, for one.” Emmett suggested as she propped himself up on his elbows to look at Sadie.</p><p>	“He took his potion, it’s fine!”</p><p>	There was a moment of silence before Rain giggled, “McGonagall is gonna get laid tonight.”</p><p>	Preston let out a screechy giggle, “By Snape.”</p><p>	“That’s it, I’m out of here. If you guys wanna hear them bang, then stay here, but I’m leaving,” Sadie told everyone as she got up, illuminated her wand, and walked toward their bedroom window.</p><p>	Slowly, each child got out of bed, put on their shoes and jacket, and tiptoed to the window, holding up their wands to see the way. Sadie carefully lifted up to open the window and then carefully crawled through. She immediately looked to her left and her right to make sure the coast was clear before she motioned for the others to follow. Emmett was the second one out, followed by Preston, who stepped back several feet to make room for his friends. A light to his right caught his attention and he made eye contact with Snape through one of the windows in the common room.</p><p>	“Guys, let’s go!” He whispered harshly.</p><p>	Ash was the last one out and quickly bent down to tie her left shoe. Preston stood as still as he could, refusing to break eye contact with the professor. Once she was done tying her shoe, they all made a break through the trees, trying not to be seen as they sprinted away from the cottage. Once they were certain that no one had followed them, Preston called for everyone to stop running. The group came to a stop so they could catch their breath. They’d sprinted for what felt like forever, but was only a couple of minutes, if that. They jogged through the terrain for another six or seven minutes. They needed to take a break and slow their heart rate.</p><p>	“Do you think McGonagall heard us leaving?” Rain asked.</p><p>	Preston gasped for air before telling the group, “Well if she didn’t hear us, Snape certainly knows. He and I made eye contact while y’all were climbing out the window.”</p><p>	“Oh good, so we should only be in serious trouble.”</p><p>	“To be honest, I think he’s more interested in bang-”</p><p>	Sadie stopped him, “Don’t say it. We all know what's happening. I don’t want that mental image.” A howl in the distance caught their attention. “Come on! We gotta find him!”</p><p>	The group turned and began running in the direction of the howl. Fallen logs, large branches, thorns, and bushes all created obstacles. The exposed tree roots made jumping over everything risky and they were doing well at keeping safe until a root caught Rain by the foot. She fell forward, unable to catch herself, and landed face first into the ground. A thorn bush that had been hidden by the dark tore into her skin as she tried to maneuver her way out of everything. As she got up, a warm sensation began to cover the side of her head and she looked down to see a rock sticking out of the ground where she’d landed. </p><p>	“You okay?” Preston asked as he approached her.</p><p>	“Yeah, I think.” Rain reached up to touch her face to make sure she was okay.</p><p>	“No! Don’t touch it!” Sadie yelled at her. “It’ll make it worse.”</p><p>	“Am I bleeding?!”</p><p>	“Only a little.” Sadie held her wand closer to the gash so she could get a better look. “Do you feel dizzy?”</p><p>	“No. It hurts like a mother-”</p><p>	Preston put his hand up, “Hey! McGonagall would be pissed if she found out you were cursing.”</p><p>	Rain pushed his hand down, “Oh, shut up.”</p><p>	“You think you can make it?” He asked.</p><p>	“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Let’s go.”</p><p>	They resumed their trek through the trees, being more careful to make sure they didn’t have a repeat incident. The gash just above Rain’s left brow was still bleeding, but it had slowed enough that the trail she was leaving now was nothing more than little droplets. As they approached a clearing that was covered by a tree canopy, a flash of lightning revealed two canine-like silhouettes in the distance, a quarter of a mile away from them. The same howl from earlier echoed through the trees again and this time they knew it was coming from the figures up ahead.</p><p>	“Hey guys, we should probably hide somewhere,” Ash suggested.</p><p>	Preston look at his friend, “And where the fuck do you think we’re going to hide out here?”</p><p>	Liam pointed up and said, “We could hide in the trees.”</p><p>	“Yes!” Sadie exclaimed in a quiet voice, as to avoid catching any unwanted attention.</p><p>	Rain shrugged to the group, as if to say it didn’t matter to her. Emmett decided to silently begin making his way up the nearest tree trunk directly to his left, without saying anything. Ash followed him up the same tree, while Preston and Liam chose it’s neighbor. Sadie looked at the two trees her friends were hiding in, sighed, then turned around and made her way up the trunk of the tree across from theirs. It took Rain a couple of minutes to gather the courage to get so high off the ground, but the figures breaking into a sprint was all the incentive she needed.</p><p>	As they all sat in their trees, they watched as a large, black dog made its way into the clearing. It sniffed the air as it slowly made its way to where they had been standing on the ground. The students all looked down and watched as it put its nose to a blood soaked leaf. Everyone’s eyes shot to Rain, who shrugged at them, unsure of how she was supposed to not bleed everywhere. Without warning another howl sounded and an even larger, light brown, almost human looking dog stepped into the clearing. It approached the smaller creature and sniffed the same spot.</p><p>	“It’s Professor Lupin,” Sadie whispered to Rain, “Oh my God, he’s beautiful!”</p><p>	The crescendo of her voice caught the attention of both dogs. The larger one immediately ran back into the forest, while the smaller one looked up at them. No one said a word as it looked at each of the trees before following. They suddenly realized the black dog was Sirius. Sadie giggled with glee as she watched him dash after Lupin. She finally got to see what she’d wanted to come out to the forest for.</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *</p><p>	Minerva and Snape sat on the couch in the common room of the cottage. She’d sent the children off to bed a couple of hours ago and felt it would be a good time to have a talk with Severus. He’d spent the day avoiding her after his outburst, but she wanted to discuss the possibility of starting a romantic relationship. At first she had trouble finding the right words, it had been a while since she was romantically involved with anyone. </p><p>Luckily, she thought quickly enough and landed on her feet. She only lost him for a brief moment when he stared out the window, but the smile on his face as he looked back at her gave her the impression that he’d heard everything she was telling him. Emotionally attachments were something she didn’t like to freely express, but she was willing to show a small amount of vulnerability.</p><p>	They were half a bottle of wine in before Minerva realized how quiet it was. “Does it seem a little too quiet to you?”</p><p>	“Whatever do you mean?” Snape asked as he took a sip from his glass, smirking.</p><p>	“It’s just that-” Minerva turned to look at the door to the student’s bedroom, “By now Preston is usually snoring and someone comes out to sleep on the couch. I don’t hear any snoring.”</p><p>	Snape put his glass down on the floor beside the couch, “Maybe he’s the only one awake?”</p><p>	“I should check on them,” Minerva said as she stood up and walked to the door. She opened it and gasped, “They’re missing.”</p><p>	“Who?”</p><p>	“The children, Severus. Who else could I possibly be talking about?”</p><p>	Minerva grabbed her wand from the counter in the kitchen and stormed out of the cottage. Snape growled as he followed after her out into the cold, dark woods. Rain began to pour and the wind picked up as they made their way through the trees. Professor Snape lead the way in the direction he’d seen Preston run. They were nearly a mile into the forest when they found a small puddle of blood on the ground and a trail leading them further in. They’d managed to make their way to a clearing where the blood drops seemed to have stopped entirely.</p><p>	“We need to find them, Severus!” Minerva shouted over the storm. “One of them is bleeding rather profusely and I would like to find a living body instead of a corpse.”</p><p>Snape nodded, “They couldn’t have gone too much farther.” A few drops of blood plopped onto Snape’s cheek. The two professors looked up to find Rain and Sadie leaning over two of the branches, waving with nervous smiles on their faces.<br/>
“What a pity. We found them.” Snape said, emotionless.</p><p>“You two come down here at once!” Minerva commanded.</p><p>	“What about them?” Sadie inquired as she pointed in the opposite direction.</p><p>	Minerva turned around to see the rest of her students sitting in their trees and she immediately shouted up to them, “You all get down here this instant!” She stood in the middle of the trees and yelled, “We’ve been searching for almost an hour!”</p><p>	“Minnie, maybe you should-”</p><p>	She glared at Snape, “You’ll lead the way back to the cottage, I’ll follow behind to make sure no one runs off.”</p><p>	The students struggled to get down, a few of them ended up with cuts and scrapes from slipping as they made their way down from each perch. McGonagall took a look at each of them as they lined up behind Snape, to ensure that there were no serious injuries. Rain was the last student she looked at and realized they would need to fetch Madam Pomfrey. She sighed as she motioned for Snape to start walking.</p><p>	It took far less time to get back than it did to hike in. They were back in the common room within twenty-five minutes and Minerva began assessing the damage to each student. Preston on scrapes on his hands, the inside of his calves, and his stomach. Ash seemed to come away nearly unscathed with just a scrape on her right hand and a shallow gash on her ankle. Emmet managed to get away with having no injuries, while Liam was only feeling stiff from being stuck in a tree for so long. Sadie’s injuries were a bit more serious than Prestons, with the scrapes on her hands still bleeding and a few deep cuts on her right side.</p><p>	As they entered the cottage, Minerva pulled Rain toward the kitchen sink and took a better look at her head wound, “You’re very lucky this is all that happened to you tonight.” She turned to look at the rest of her students, “All of you are.”</p><p>	“You all could have easily been killed,” Snape droned at them.</p><p>	Preston chuckled, “Like you care.”</p><p>	“Oh, he cares alright!” Sadie said.</p><p>	“How do you know?”</p><p>	“Because we’re the best!”</p><p>	“Hardly. I’m only here because I had a sneaking suspicion that you all would end up putting yourselves in danger,” Snape explained. “From the look of things tonight, I’m not wrong.”</p><p>	“Hey, we had it under control!” Sadie remarked.</p><p>	Mineva looked at her over her glasses, “Oh yes,” She looked from Sadie, to Rain, then back to Sadie, “That much is very clear.”</p><p>	Rain winced as Minerva put a towel against her cut, “I would have been fine, but we don’t know any healing spells.”</p><p>	“And you won’t be learning them any time soon.” Minerva reached down and guided Rain’s hand up to hold the towel in place, “Keep pressure on this.” She turned and motioned for Sadie to come closer to her, “Let’s get a look at you.”</p><p>	Sadie approached her, “I think I’ll be okay. It stings like a bitch though.”</p><p>	McGonagall didn’t bother reprimanding her as she lifted the side of her shirt just enough to see the scratches, “Those do look nasty.”</p><p>	“It’s definitely gonna leave a scar,” Preston said.</p><p>	A smile spread across Sadie’s face, “Rad!”</p><p>	“Can I stop yet?” Rain asked her professor.</p><p>	“No, keep the pressure on it, so the bleeding stops.”</p><p>	“But it hurts!”</p><p>	Minerva took another dish towel from a drawer beside the sink and put it against Sadie’s side, “You hold that there.”</p><p>	Preston put up his hands as Minerva moved toward him, “I’m fine, I just have scrapes on me. Nothin’ bleeding.”</p><p>	“Well, we’ll still need to put something on it.” She looked over at the other professor, “Severus, do you have any Dittany?”</p><p>	Snape nodded, “It’s in the cupboard above the sink.”</p><p>	“Dittany? What’s Dittany?” Sadie asked.</p><p>	Minerva took a vial from where Snape told her to look, “It’s a healing herb. It will help heal your wounds. It may sting a bit.”</p><p>She placed a few drops on Sadie’s wounds, then stepped toward Rain, who immediately backed away, “No, I don’t want it.”</p><p>	The professor rolled her eyes, “Rain, it will only sting for a second. I need to put it on your cut so that it will heal.”</p><p>	“I think I’d rather bleed to death.”</p><p>	Sadie poked her head out from behind the older woman, “Just gotta rip it off, like a bandaid!”</p><p>	Minerva looked down at her, “Like a what?”</p><p>	Snape clarified, “A muggle healing device. They don’t really do anything.”</p><p>	Preston shrugged as he looked down at the floor, “Sometimes, they make me feel better.”</p><p>	McGonagall approached Rain and removed the towel, “It will only hurt for a second. I just need to put a small drop on it.”</p><p>	She held up the bottle of Dittany for the student to see, pulled the eyedropper from it and held it just over the opening. A dark green drop fell back into the container and Minerva moved it over Rain’s eyebrow. Another drop landed on the small gash, causing a small cloud of green smoke to rise and dissipate, then did the same for the other scrapes and cuts she had received. The professor put the dropped back down into the bottle and set it on the counter behind her before gently holding her student’s chin and moving her head to the right so that she could get a better look at where the wound used to be</p><p>	“I told you. Like a bandaid,” Sadie grinned.</p><p>	Minerva said, “That looks much better. Did it hurt?”</p><p>	“A little,” Rain replied.</p><p>	“Good. That means it worked. Now, you and Sadie go get ready for bed with Emmett and Liam.” She turned to look at the other two students, “Preston and Ash, you’re turn.”</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *</p><p>	“Why in the hell do you give Snape so much credit?” Preston asked Sadie as he pulled back the comforter on his bed.</p><p>	“What do you mean?” She asked as she looked up from the book she was reading.</p><p>	Ash chuckled from the doorway, “Dude. Are you salty about the whole Snape not caring thing?”</p><p>	“Nah. It’s just annoying when people make excuses for shitty people.”</p><p>	Sadie huffed, “But he’s not shitty! He told Dumbledore that he wants to stay here during the school year to help McGonagall look after us.”</p><p>	Preston chuckled loudly, “Ha! Only because he wants to get into McGonagall’s pants.”</p><p>	Everyone shushed, then Sadie explained, “Well, if he’s in love with McGonagall, then he’s going to do anything to get into her good graces, including looking after us.”</p><p>	Rain, who’d been sitting on her bed with Sadie, pointed out, “Wait, so he’d only cares about the things McGonagall cares about.”</p><p>	“Duh!” A big grin spread across Sadie’s face, “It means she likes us. Someone here likes us!”</p><p>	Emmett walked into the room, “Who likes us?”</p><p>	Everyone in the room softly replied, “McGonagall.”</p><p>	“Oh.” He closed the door behind him and made his way over to his bed, “I don’t know if I should be sad that I’m happy about that. I mean, she’s great and all, but we’re hated so much by everyone else that I’m really excited that a member of the faculty actually cares.”</p><p>	The bedroom door creaked open and Minvera poked her head in, “Is everyone in bed?” She looked around the room to see each student in their bed, except for Sadie. “One person per bed, Sadie.”</p><p>	The girl sighed, “Alright, I’m going.”</p><p>	McGonagall went around the room to tuck each student into bed, then turned to retire for the evening. As soon as she left the room Rain tiptoed across the floor and crawled into Sadie’s bed. The room was completely silent until they heard Snape leave and McGonagall close her bedroom door. As soon as the coast was clear, everyone sat up in their beds.</p><p>	“Does this mean I can do whatever I want without Snape punishing me?” Liam asked.</p><p>	Ash replied, “I don’t think that’s how that works.”</p><p>	“To be fair,” Preston interjected, “He made direct eye contact with me when we snuck out and didn’t say a goddamn thing to McGonagall. I’m sure there’s a limit to what he’ll let us get away with… But I bet it’s a big one.”</p><p>	“There’s only one way to find out. I’m willing to test it.” Rain said before burrowing under the covers.</p><p>	“We don’t want to give McGonagall a heart attack, so maybe we should hold off for a week or two before we do anything else.” Sadie told them.</p><p>	Everyone nodded in agreement. They stayed up for a couple more hours and talked amongst themselves before finally falling asleep. The events of the night had kept them awake until almost dawn. With Minerva being unable to get any sleep before the sun came up, they were granted a day off from their scheduled learning and got to spend the day with Hagrid and Sirius, learning about the different creatures in the forest. They wouldn’t get to officially learn about anything as first years, but it was a good way to keep them occupied and out of Minerva’s hair so she could sleep.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter Five</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Winter arrived at Hogwarts overnight. Snow had begun to pile up around the castle, so much so that even the cottage Minerva and her students were staying in was covered. Luckily, the canopy of trees kept the majority of snowfall from reaching them. They were still able to build snowmen and have snowball fights, which kept them busy during their free time. News of a blizzard heading straight for the castle ended up preoccupying the group, since they needed to help Sirius and Hagrid gather wood for the fireplace.</p><p>Despite having the ability to magically keep the fire going, Minerva had made it clear that she wanted to do things the old fashioned way. No one minded, until it came time to go out and find logs to chop. Sirius rounded up the students and headed out into the deep forest where they met Hagrid and promptly began their search. Both professors had brought a large sled with them to haul everything back and it didn’t take long for them to get the first few logs on. Once they’d found what they could in the immediate area, Hagrid suggested they fan out to find more.</p><p>“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Sirius said. “Minnie trusts me to keep them safe and that last thing I need is for someone to end up getting hurt while they’re under my watch.”</p><p>“We promise not to get hurt,” Rain told him with a pleading tone.</p><p>He smirked, “You definitely can’t make that promise. She spends more time mending you, Sadie, and Preston than she does teaching some days.”</p><p>	Rain rolled her eyes, “I keep telling her to let me bleed out. The woman doesn’t listen.”</p><p>	Sadie nudged her friend to the side and asked, “What if we all go together? You and Hagrid can go together while Liam, Ash, Rain, Emmett, Preston, and I go together.”</p><p>	The man rubbed his forehead as he responded, “Fine.” As they jetted off he added, “If anyone gets so much as a splinter, I’m taking you all back home!”</p><p>	The children sprinted through the forest, dodging trees, shrubs, thorny bushes, and low hanging branches. An occasional rock added an extra element of surprise for them to get around. Running around like this had become somewhat of a hobby for them. The only thing they found more exciting was flying through the chaos on their brooms, which had coincidentally been the leading cause of their injuries in the last couple of weeks. They still enjoyed it, however.</p><p>	They slowed as they reached a wide stream. Everyone except Sadie and Rain were able to cross it with a running start. Remembering their promise to be careful and not get hurt, they looked around for anything they could use to create a makeshift bridge. As everyone looked around the forest bed, Liam found several large branches that had fallen from a few trees.</p><p>	“Hey guys!” He started, “Do you think we could use these?”</p><p>	The group ran over and Preston replied, “Exactly what we’re looking for.”</p><p>	The group worked together and moved the branches to the most narrow part of the stream that they could find. Once they had everything laid out, they found two large boulders to hold it all together on one side. After they carefully crossed, they found two more boulders to put on the opposite side and ensure the security of their bridge. Satisfied with their work, they turned and began running deeper into the woods.</p><p>	“Do you think Professor McGonagall is gonna get mad that we’re going this far into the forest?” Rain called out to her friends.</p><p>	Preston replied, “Only way she’ll know is if we tell-”</p><p>	Out of nowhere an old car blindsided Preston and knocked him back a couple of yards. He landed on a bed of moss with a loud thud and a few gasps. It was like the air had been completely sucked out of his lungs. Try as he might, he couldn’t get in enough oxygen. Everyone immediately knew McGonagall would have a field day when they got home.</p><p>	Sadie said, “He’ll be fine. He just had the wind knocked out of him. Let’s just wait a couple minutes.”</p><p>	Emmett asked, “What in the hell was that?”</p><p>	Rain, who hadn’t taken her eyes off the vehicle, said, “Uh, guys.” She pointed in it’s direction and announced, “I think it’s driving itself.”</p><p>	They looked over at the tiny car. It was heavily rusted, but they could clearly see that it had been some shade of blue in its prime, with a white stripe down the middle. The interior of the car was in slightly better shape, but they could tell it was just as weathered inside as it was out. Only one headlight was operable and illuminating the greenery in front of it. Rain promptly opened the door and lifted her foot to climb in.</p><p>	“Are you insane?” Sadie said as she walked over to pull her friend away from the car.</p><p>	“No. It’s a self driving car. By the looks of it, no one has used it in years. We could totally fix this up with magic and drive it around.”</p><p>	Ash nodded, "Yeah, but I'm not gonna risk sitting in squirrel shit."</p><p>Rain waved her wand and said an incantation. The grime inside the car slowly disappeared and she turned to look at her friends. She opened the door and gestured for everyone to get in. Liam shrugged as he climbed into the back with Emmett following behind. Ash and Sadie waited for Preston to get in and confirm it was okay.</p><p>"How did you do that?" Sadie asked. "McGonagall hasn't taught us those spells."</p><p>"I know damn well you've been reading spell books. You know how I did it."</p><p>"I haven't found this one anywhere."</p><p>"Best Spells To Keep A Tidy Home. I think it's one of McGonagall's, but she put it on a shelf in the common room."</p><p>As Sadie climbed into the car, Rain stepped away to see if she could see either of the professors in the direction they come from. Certain the area was clear, she ran back and got into the vehicle. She moved her hand over to the gear shift and realized the vehicle was not an automatic. Looking down at her feet, she could also see she wasn’t tall enough to reach the pedals.</p><p>	“Shit. I forgot I’m eleven.” She looked in the rearview mirror and asked, “Any of you tall enough to drive a stick shift?”</p><p>	Liam moved forward from his seat in the back, “Move over.”</p><p>	“Liam, there’s not enough-” Sadie stopped talking when she realized there was enough room for all four of them. “I’m not crazy, right? There wasn’t enough room before.”</p><p>	Ash, who was sitting against the passenger door replied, “Yeah, no, you’re right.”</p><p>	Liam threw the car into gear as he stated, “Well, there’s enough room now.”</p><p>	They drove off in the direction the car came from, hoping to find a way around the stream they’d crossed. There were a few spots narrow enough for a vehicle with larger wheels to cross, but if they attempted it, they would get stuck. They were about to turn around and drive the other way when Rain accidentally knocked the gear shift into the next gear. Before Liam could put it back into drive, the vehicle shot up into the air. Everyone in the car let out a yelp as they burst through the forest canopy.</p><p>	“Are we dead yet?” Rain asked, eyes covered.</p><p>	Emmett answered, “If we were, you wouldn’t be talking.”</p><p>	Rain uncovered her eyes and looked around. Clouds covered a large portion of the sky, but to her left she could see a small portion of the lake. They looked around to get their bearings before Liam hit the gas pedal and they sped off beyond the mountains. They flew around until the sun began to disappear. </p><p>Unfortunately they had lost track of time and their absence at home had definitely been noticed. Their confirmation? Lupin greeted them a hundred feet or so into the forest behind the cottage. He stepped out from behind a tree as they began walking back.</p><p>"And where have you six been?" He asked, arms crossed in front of his chest.</p><p>"We… We were-"</p><p>Preston cut Sadie off, "We were just out looking for wood and ended up walking too far into the forest."</p><p>"I suppose that's how you found The Weasley's car and spent the day joyriding?" A smile spread across his face, "Was it fun?" As they all nodded he added, "Good, because the next couple of days won't be. Minerva is very worried. She's been stressing since Sirius and Hagrid informed her of your disappearance."</p><p>"Shit," Preston said under his breath.</p><p>Rain groaned, "We're so fucked."</p><p>Liam chuckled, "I had fun."</p><p>"Yeah, well you got to drive the car!" Sadie pouted.</p><p>"Driving what car?" Minerva screeched as she marched toward them. The car behind them caught her eye as she stood next to Lupin, "You mean to tell me that you all decided to go joyriding for the day?"</p><p>"We just wanted a quick way back," Ash started, "We didn't know it could fly until Rain accidentally shifted gears while we were driving."</p><p>Minerva rubbed her forehead as she let out a sigh, "Go inside, now. You owe Sirius and Hagrid an apology.”</p><p>	“Yes ma’am,” They responded in unison.</p><p>	“I expect you to be washed up for dinner by the time I get inside,” She called after them.</p><p>	Lupin chuckled, “I never thought I’d see the day when Minerva McGonagall became a domestic housewife.”</p><p>	“Laugh if you want, Lupin. Just remember, I’m the one making your dinner tonight.”</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	Sadie picked up her plate from the table and walked over to set it in the sink. McGonagall looked down at her and then at the plate. She’d put it on the right side, instead of the left. The student quickly reached down and picked it up, corrected her mistake, then looked up at the professor. The older woman gave her a smile and she turned to walk away. She stopped in her tracks and looked back at Minerva, who was busy washing dishes. Rain and Emmett, who were still wiping down the dinner table, watched as their friend threw her arms around their professors midsection.</p><p>	“Thank you for dinner,” Sadie told her.</p><p>	Minerva froze for a moment before patting her student’s head, “You’re welcome Miss Bell. Now go finish helping Emmett and Rain.”</p><p>	“We’re actually done,” Emmett told her.</p><p>	Minerva wiped her hands on a towel and walked over to examine the top of the table. Satisfied with their work, she took off her apron and handed it to Emmett, “Finish up the dishes then. Rain, be a dear and get started on sweeping the floors. Sadie, please go tell Ash and Liam that I want them to make sure all the dirty laundry is in the hamper and let Preston know that he needs to clean up the mess I can clearly see he left in the bathroom.”</p><p>	Sadie nodded and made a dash for the room. As she threw it open, she announced, “Liam McGonagall wants you and Ash to clean up all the dirty clothes.”</p><p>	Ash groaned, “Why is it always me?”</p><p>	“I do not know, dear, but apparently you’re good at it or else she wouldn’t ask you every time.” Sadie remarked. “Do either of you know where Preston is? McGonagall wants him to clean up his mess in the bathroom.”<br/>	“He disappeared somewhere after dinner,” Liam told her.</p><p>	Sadie groaned and rolled her eyes, “Preston!”</p><p>	She spun around to see the friend in question right behind her. “I’m right here,” He said.</p><p>	“Oh! Shit!”</p><p>	Preston chuckled, “What did you need?”</p><p>	“The decade of my life you just scared out of me would be nice, but McGonagall says you left a mess in the bathroom and she wants you to clean it up.”</p><p>	“Can do, will do.”</p><p>	Preston snapped and gave her the finger guns before turning and walking to the bathroom. Sadie decided to go back into the Common Room and see what else needed to be done. Rain was still sweeping up the common room, but Emmett had finished the last of the dishes and was already sweeping the kitchen floor to help get their evening chores done. The bedrooms would need to be swept, but Sadie had to ask McGonagall’s permission to go into her room first.</p><p>	“Where did-”</p><p>	“She’s outside. She said she needed to get some fresh air,” Rain answered, without looking up from the floor.</p><p>	“Thanks.”</p><p>	Sadie strolled over to the front door and opened it. Looking to her right she could see nothing but dark forest. She turned her head to see if McGonagall was in the near vicinity, or if she would have to go around back. The girl stopped dead in her tracks as she watched Sirius’ lips pull away from McGonagall’s. Slightly shocked, Sadie quickly ducked back inside and slammed the door closed behind her, pressing the full weight of her body against it. A rapid knocking caused her to groan.</p><p>	“Um… Are you okay?” Emmett asked.</p><p>	Rain said, “I think McGonagall wants in.”</p><p>	“You two are not gonna believe this,” Sadie told them in a harsh whisper.</p><p>	“Sadie, dear, please open the door so we can sit down and talk,” McGonagall’s voice came from outside.</p><p>	“If I open the door will you still be smooching?”</p><p>	“Smooching?!” Emmett and Rain looked at each other, then at Sadie.</p><p>	Sadie stepped away from the door and shouted, “That’s right! I caught these two making out!”</p><p>	She pointed an accusing finger in the direction of her teachers as they stepped inside. Sirius calmly walked over and put it down. By this time, the rest of the children in the house had come out to see what the commotion was about. He gestured for them to sit at the chairs around the table before walking to the front of the room with Minerva. The pair was doing their best to mask their guilty expressions.</p><p>	“I thought you and Snape was a thang,” Preston said as he leaned back in his chair.</p><p>	“All four chair legs on the floor Mr. Myers.” McGonagall instructed, “Also, Professor Snape and I have begun a courtship. However, Professor Black and I have also begun seeing each other during our personal time.”</p><p>	Ash put a hand up, “Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that you guys are in an open relationship together?”</p><p>	“Is this a ‘v’ sort of situation, or a triangle?” Asked Preston.</p><p>	Sadie shook her head, “No, if it were a triangle, she would be in love with one of them, whoever she’s in love with would be in love with their third, and the third person would be in love with her.”</p><p>	“I know I’m probably wrong here,” Rain started, “But is that what a circle jerk is? I’ve heard people use the phrase before, but I still don’t know what it is.”</p><p>	“Good god, Rain!” Emmett exclaimed as he covered his ears.</p><p>	“What? Is that not what-”</p><p>	“God no!”</p><p>	“Well what is it!”</p><p>	Preston interrupted the back and forth, “It depends on what definition you’re looking for.”</p><p>	“What do you mean, what definition? How could that phrase be used in more ways than one!”</p><p>	“Well, the non icky version is you and your friends backing up each other’s opinions,” Sadie told her.</p><p>	Preston smiled, “The icky version is when a bunch of dudes-”</p><p>	“No!” Sadie covered his mouth before he could finish his sentence.</p><p>	McGonagall blushed as she said, “I don’t know how you know that Preston, but that talk is unacceptable.” She looked around the table as she got them back on track, “Sirius, Severus, and I have agreed that we’d like to be in a relationship together. I know this may be a little confusing, but-”</p><p>	Preston began chuckling, “So which is dad and daddy.” He immediately regretted his words, “Nope, that’s not right. Um…”</p><p>	Sadie smiled, “Yeah, buddy? Feeling a little gross?”</p><p>	“I need to go shower.”</p><p>	Ash asked, “Were you trying to make a joke? I can’t tell because of how off putting it was.”</p><p>	“I thought we were only calling Snape and McGonagall mom and dad behind their backs?” Rain sounded confused.</p><p>	Minerva tilted her head, “You’ve been doing what?”</p><p>	“Oh my god, nothing! We haven’t been doing anything!” Sadie told her before trying to run a distraction, “So you three are in a triad?”</p><p>	“Oh! That’s what it’s called!” Rain nodded in approval, “My next guess was going to be calling it a trident.”</p><p>	Ash told her, “I think that would require a fourth person to join.”</p><p>	“Perfect! I think Lupin is available?” Rain teased.</p><p>	“Hey!” Sadie yelled.</p><p>Minerva shouted, “Enough!” Once the room was completely silent for more than a couple of seconds, she told them, “It’s getting late. I think it’s best that you all get ready for bed.”</p><p>“I didn’t finish sweeping,” Rain said.</p><p>“That’s alright, dear. I’ll finish up.” She turned and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear, “Don’t forget to wear warm pajamas. It’s supposed to get cold tonight.”</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	Rain could feel the chill of the room through all of the blankets on her bed. She quickly sat up and reached for the fuzz purple robe that was hanging on the top left bedpost. Adding yet another layer to the already warm set of pajamas she had on made her feel a little better, but her hands and feet were so cold she could barely feel them. The floor didn’t even bother her when she got out of bed to see if there was still a fire going in the common room.</p><p>	“Where are you going?” She heard Sadie whisper as she tiptoed across the room.</p><p>	She turned around, “It’s cold as hell in here. I’m going out to see if the fire is still going.”</p><p>	Sadie grabbed her matching robe and quietly walked over to Rain, “I’m coming with you.”</p><p>	“Wait, let’s take our blankets with us.”</p><p>	“Good idea.”</p><p>	The pair took the comforters off their beds and made their way out into the common room, being careful to not wake anyone up. The two of them were startled by Minerva sitting on the couch, watching the flames of the fire. Neither moved until the professor motioned for them to join her, patting the cushions on either side of her. Sadie didn’t waste any time as she skipped over and sat on Minerva’s right side, getting close enough to share body heat. Rain, on the other hand, sat down at the end and curled up so she could wrap herself into a cocoon.</p><p>	“What are you ladies doing awake this late?” Minerva asked them.</p><p>	Sadie answered, “It’s too cold for us to sleep, so we came out here to warm up.”</p><p>	Minerva made sure Sadie’s blanket was wrapped around her before pulling her closer, “You can stay out here as long as you need.”</p><p>	“Good, because my hands and feet feel like they’re going to fall off,” Rain said as she tightened the blankets around her.</p><p>	The older woman motioned for one of Rain’s hands. Rain had actively avoided unnecessary contact with almost anyone and Minerva knew it was something that made her feel uncomfortable, until she got comfortable with someone. They hadn’t quite clicked yet, despite getting along for the most part and the rest of the students being comfortable with her. She was about to pull it back when Rain hesitantly slipped her hand into hers.</p><p>	“Your hand is so cold!”</p><p>	Rain pulled back, “Sorry.”</p><p>	Minerva put her arm out and said, “Come get warm.”</p><p>	The girl looked from Minerva, then to her friend before slowly scooting over. Both girls sat bundled up in their bedding while they waited to thaw out. Both of them had their feet up on the couch cushion and every once in a while, a small foot would slide close enough for an icy chill to run across Minerva’s leg.</p><p>	“What’s going on here?” Came Sirius’s voice from behind them.</p><p>	The two girls turned around as McGonagall explained, “Their room was too cold for them to sleep, so they came out to get warm.”</p><p>	Sirius walked over and stuck his arm out into the room, but immediately jumped back before Ash appeared in the doorway. She rubbed her left eyes and yawned as she walked over and sat in front of the fireplace. Preston followed her in a zombie like state, his eyes still unwilling to fully open. As he took his seat in front of the fire, Sirius walked into their room. Sure enough, it was chilly enough to snow. Without saying a word, he disappeared into the darkness and returned with a bed headed Liam and confused Emmett.</p><p>	“What’s going on?” Liam asked.</p><p>	Sadie excitedly responded, “Slumber party in the common room!”</p><p>	“It’s too cold for you to sleep in your room,” Sirius told him, “I’ll get your blankets and pillows, just get comfy.”</p><p>	As he brought out an arm full of bedding, Minerva told him, “We’ll have to make sure their room has a fireplace when we rebuild.”</p><p>	Sirius flicked his wand around and a neatly folded blanket appeared on his arm, “I’m surprised it got so cold in there. The rest of the house is fine.”</p><p>	Minerva let go of Sadie long enough to lift Rain and move over with her, “It may be that the window above their beds happened to be left open.”</p><p>	Sirius reached down and picked Sadie up to move her over as he sat on the other side, laying the blanket across all four of them, “It looked like it was closed. I’ll see if I can put a fireplace in there some time tomorrow.”</p><p>	“We could wait until we fix up the house. I don’t mind doing this every night,” Sadie told them with a smile.</p><p>	A grin spread across Minerva’s face, “I don’t think so, Sadie.”</p><p>	As Rain let out a yawn, she asked, “Since it’s the weekend, can’t we just sleep in here?”</p><p>	Sirius leaned forward just enough to see her leaning against Minerva, “Seeing as you’ve already made yourselves at home out here, it’d be rude to say no.”</p><p>	“Just for tonight,” Minerva told them as she adjusted to support both students more comfortably. “I know everyone is still getting comfortable with the living arrangement, but I don’t want us forming any bad habits.”</p><p>	Sirius side eyed Minerva. He knew the only person that wasn’t having trouble adjusting was her. As much as she hated admitting to it, there was no denying that this group of students were definitely her favorite. If anyone else had pushed the boundaries this much, she’d be putting them on the first train back home, wherever that was. He couldn’t blame her. They were a comical bunch and he enjoyed looking after them too. Lupin definitely didn’t mind keeping them occupied either and had actually suggested moving in as well. The only person who didn’t seem to like them was Snape, but Sirius had his suspicions that he was more fond of them than he was leading on.</p><p>	Sirius whispered to McGonagall, “I think Sadie and Rain are the only two awake.”</p><p>	“I can’t help it, I’m cold.” Rain told him, her blanket covering her mouth.</p><p>	Sadie shifted and leaned against Sirius, “My brian won’t slow down. It won’t be quiet.”</p><p>	Sirius put his arm over the girl, “Okay, close your eyes and listen. You too Rain.”</p><p>	He waited until he was sure both girls had their eye shut, then flicked his wand and the sound of rain began to fill the room. The girls began to relax and Sirius moved Sadie back to rest on McGonagall, then got up and disappeared into the bedroom. He reappeared a moment later with a vial full of purple liquid. As he sat back down, Sadie opened her eyes.</p><p>	“What’s that?” She asked as she sat up.</p><p>	“It’s a potion to help you sleep. Just take enough to coat your tongue, we don’t need you to sleep through the weekend.” He watched as she took a sip and swallowed, “Good. Here, Rain.”</p><p>	Minerva took the potion and handed it to the student resting against her. Rain didn’t seem too thrilled with the idea, but Sadie reassured her that she felt fine after taking it. She knew none of them would trick her into drinking something that would hurt her, but she was more concerned about the taste. After a bit of convincing, the girl tossed her head back and took a mouth full.</p><p>	McGonagall took the bottle out her hand, “That’s quite enough.”</p><p>	“No! You were only supposed to take a sip!” Sadie scolded in a harsh whisper.</p><p>	Sirius took back the vial from Minerva, “It’s okay, she’ll just sleep longer now.”</p><p>	“How much longer?” Rain asked, rubbing her eyes.</p><p>	“Maybe a few extra hours.”</p><p>	Minerva pulled Sadie to her side, “I certainly hope so. We don’t need her sleeping the day away.”</p><p>	After a brief discussion with his partner about the effects of sleeping potions, Sirius excused himself to bed for the evening. Sadie fought to stay awake until he left, but she fell asleep almost as soon as the conversation shifted into their debate. Rain had fallen asleep almost as soon as she was done asking her question. Minerva had felt both girls go limp within a minute of each other and knew she would be stuck out on the couch for a little while. She rested her cheek on top of Sadie’s head and closed her eyes.</p><p>	Only a couple of hours later Sirius woke her up to help her get the girls settled on the couch, that way she could sleep in her bed. They put Sadie on the left side and Rain on the right. They were short enough to lay in the center of the couch and put both blankets on top for extra warmth, which is exactly what Minerva did. Sirius made sure there was enough heat coming off the embers in the fireplace. There were some small flames, but the room was warm enough that they didn’t really need the fire going. Once they were both certain everyone was settled, they went to bed.</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	Ash was the first of the six students to wake up the following morning. McGonagall recruited her to help Sirius bring in more firewood from the wood shed beside the cottage. Shortly after they went outside, both Liam and Preston got up. The smell of breakfast distracted them from how cold it was in the cottage, but only for a few seconds. The fire they’d fallen asleep in died out hours ago and the freezing temperatures outside had begun to seep in. Of all the things the professors warded the cottage against, the temperatures in the dead of winter were not one.</p><p>	“Is it just me, or is it unusually cold in here?” Preston asked as he pulled his blanket around himself.</p><p>	McGonagall turned from the stove to look at him, “You and Liam can help Sirius bring in firewood.”</p><p>	“Nah, it looks like it’s snowing out there. I’m cold enough as it is.”</p><p>	“I don’t think that was actually a request,” Emmett told him in a groggy voice as he sat up from where he had been sleeping. “Let’s go.”</p><p>	Preston let out a groan and began grumbling as they got up and walked to their bedroom to get changed, Emmett leading the way. As they reemerged in their snowsuits, Ash walked in with the first armload of firewood. She placed the quartered logs in the wood box beside the common room fireplace, before turning and heading back outside. Emmett, Preston, and Liam followed her back out to the shed where Sirius had been chopping away. A decent size pile was waiting for them to take in. All four students did their best to gather as much of the wood as possible into their arms.</p><p>	As they walked inside, Ash and Liam dropped their firewood in a box just outside Minerva’s bedroom door, while Emmett and Preston put theirs in the box beside the fireplace they’d slept in front of the night before. Preston stayed behind to reorganize the wood as the other three students went out to get what remained of the pile. Almost as if on queue, the fireplace roared as the front door shut. Preston stumbled back as Snape crawled out from the mouth of the bricks, brushing the soot off his shoulders. He peered down his nose at the boy, offered a brief and awkward smile, then made his way toward the kitchen.</p><p>	“Late night study group, I assume?” He asked Minerva.</p><p>	Without looking away from the food she was making, she answered, “No, we actually had a slumber party out here. It was too cold in their room.”</p><p>	“Everyone must have stayed up late.”</p><p>	Minerva shook her head, “No. What makes you say that?”</p><p>	“The two smaller ones are still sleeping.”</p><p>	“They have names, Severus. If you don’t use them, they’ll start to think you hate them.”</p><p>	Preston stopped behind Snape on his way out the door, “Yeah, you’ll give us a complex.”</p><p>	Snape turned and hit him up the backside of his head as he attempted to walk away. Minerva, who had already turned her attention back to the meal she was making, didn’t need to be looking in their direction to know what just happened.</p><p>	“Severus!” She scolded.</p><p>	“That’s child abuse!” Preston said in a joking manner. Snape raised his hand to him a second time, causing the child to put his hands up as he walked out, “Okay, stop. You play too much.”</p><p>	Once the door was shut, McGonagall told her partner, “I don’t want them to be afraid of us. He was just being playful. You didn’t have to hit him.”</p><p>	“I expect more from a Slytherin. Even a muggle born one.”</p><p>	“Well I don’t want you hitting my children.”</p><p>	Snape raised an eyebrow, “Your children?”</p><p>	“Yes. They’re my responsibility when they’re here and they also happen to be children.”</p><p>	“You’re getting comfortable with them.”</p><p>	“Of course I am. I’ve been looking after them for several weeks now. How could I not?”</p><p>	A loud yowl came from the couch as Sadie sat up. Looking in the direction of the kitchen, she asked, “Is breakfast almost done?”</p><p>	Minerva smiled at her, “Of course. Why don’t you get dressed in the snowsuit on your bed and go outside? Preston, Liam, Ash, and Emmett are bringing in wood, but I’m sure they’ll be done very soon.”</p><p>	Sadie hopped off the couch and ran to the bedroom, just in time for Sirius to walk in with his arms full of firewood. “It looks like that blizzard we’ve been waiting for is getting ready to blow in.” He stopped at the sight of Snape, “Oh, good morning. When did you get here?”</p><p>“A few minutes ago. I thought I would stop by before the school day starts.”</p><p>Sirius put away the firewood and exchanged a few words with the other two adults. Sadie, who took her time getting dressed for the snow, managed to sneak out of the cottage unnoticed by the two men. Minerva, on the other hand, watched as the young girl tiptoed out the door and joined her friends until breakfast was ready. The fun ended sooner than expected when the wind picked up and began swirling the freshly fallen snow around. It began creating a white wall, forcing the children to retreat to safety.</p><p>As they threw open the door, the wind blew snow into the entrance. Emmett stood by the open door as Liam, Sadie, Ash, and then Preston made their way into the middle of the room. Try as he might, Emmett couldn’t get the door to shut, forcing Sirius to remove himself from where he’d been standing so that he could help. Everyone looked around the room at one another.</p><p>“Wait a minute, what is Snape doing here?” Ash finally asked.</p><p>	“I came for a short visit, but seeing as this storm is much stronger than we anticipated, I think I’ll stay for a little while longer.”</p><p>	“Could this weekend get any better?” Sadie asked out loud.</p><p>	Preston shrugged, “I mean, it’d be nice to be able to play in the snow for a couple hours, but I’m also not madly in love with two men that I can’t have.”</p><p>	Professor McGonagall decided to put an end to the conversation, “Alright, everyone, go get ready for breakfast. I need to check on Rain.”</p><p>	“Why? What’s wrong with her?” Preston asked.</p><p>	Sadie giggled, “Oh she took a pretty good swig of a sleeping potion.”</p><p>	“No foolin.”</p><p>	Emmett jokingly asked, “So if she doesn’t wake up does that mean she’s dead?”</p><p>	Sirius reassured him, “She’ll wake up. Just not right away.”</p><p>	“I’m given’ her an hour, then I’m drawing a mustache on her face,” Preston said.</p><p>	Minerva told him, “It will have to wait until after you eat. Now, go wash up, everyone.”</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	After sleeping through the first two meals of the day, Rain woke up feeling very groggy and almost hungover. The rest of the house was quiet, everyone reading in their own separate areas of the cottage.She looked down toward her feet to see Minerva sitting at the opposite end of the couch. Sadie was sitting on a pillow, against the professors, getting her hair braided. She could hear Liam and Preston rough housing in the bedroom. She couldn’t see Emmett and Ash from where she was laying, but they couldn’t be too far away.</p><p>	“There you are,” Sirius said as he stood over Rain.</p><p>	McGonagall wrapped a hair tie around the braid she was making, “Alright Sadie, you can go back with the other four.” As Sadie got up and ran to the bedroom to show off her braid, Minerva got up and walked to the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with a glass of water for her student, “How do you feel?”</p><p>	Rain gulped down the water before she replied “My head kind of hurts.”</p><p>	“To be expected,” Minerva said, “You drank quite a bit of that potion.”</p><p>	“Frankly, I don’t see why they were given one in the first place,” Snape scoffed at Sirius.</p><p>	Minerva felt Rain’s forehead to make sure she wasn’t running a fever, “It was late last night we needed to get them back to sleep.”</p><p>	“That’s hardly an excuse.”</p><p>	Minerva began to get angry, “It is not an excuse. Don’t come here and act high and mighty. These children are in my care and I will be doing what is best for them during that time. Your help is welcome and much appreciated, but your input is not.”</p><p>	Rain got up from the sofa, “I’m feeling better. I think I’ll go hang out in the room with everyone else.”</p><p>	Minerva reached out to stop her, but the child scampered away from her too soon. She turned and looked at Snape, “I think it’s best that you leave. I need to make sure Rain is alright and our conversation has clearly made her uncomfortable.”</p><p>	Snape had already begun to walk toward the fireplace before Minerva could finish what she needed to say, “I have other things to attend to this afternoon. If I’m not back by dinner, don’t wait up.”</p><p>	As soon as Snape had disappeared Minerva turned to collect Rain from her friends. Preston had Liam pinned as Ash, Emmett, and Sadie looked on. Rain, on the other hand, was laying in her bed, blankets pulled up to her chin. There was no sense in pulling her away from the comfort of her bed, especially if she wasn’t feeling good. Rather than have her get up to lay back down on the sofa, Minerva approached her and pulled the blankets away from her face, feeling her forehead.</p><p>	“Well, you don’t feel warm,” Minerva told her.</p><p>	“I just have a headache,” Rain replied.</p><p>	From the other side of the room they could hear Preston shouting, “Ouch! Okay! Uncle!”</p><p>	Minerva turned to find Liam holding Preston in an arm lock, “Okay you two,” She started, “That’s quite enough.”</p><p>	“Let me just try to get him one more time,” Preston responded in a desperate tone.</p><p>	“Out by the sofas,” She sighed, “But stay away from the fireplace. I don’t need anyone getting seriously hurt while there’s a blizzard going on outside.”</p><p>	The two boys left the room while Emmett, Ash, and Sadie each grabbed books to read. Minerva knew Rain wasn’t feeling well, but she also knew that Sirius was not watching the boys who were definitely wrestling too close to the fireplace. She’d been looking after them long enough to know that they didn’t care about if they got hurt while they were having fun, so long as the scars were worth it. It made her nervous. She tucked Rain into bed and then left the room, leaving the other three students to their literature.</p><p>	In the common room, Preston and Liam were wrestling while Sirius was hunched over by the fireplace, trying to get some heat going. The heat charm had finally worn off and it was time to burn some of the logs they’d brought in that morning. Luckily they had quite a few and their plan to have everyone sleep in the common room would make it so they wouldn’t have to rely on charms to avoid freezing to death.</p><p>	“Boys, I’d like you to move back behind the larger sofa. Sirius is starting a fire and we don’t need the two of you accidentally joining the firewood,” Minerva said as she pointed in the direction behind the seating area.</p><p>	The two of them got up and walked back to where Minerva had pointed. As Liam turned to face his friend, Preston tackled him to ground, resuming the round. While they scuffled, Minerva walked to the kitchen to take an inventory of the food they had, as well as their stock of magical ingredients. She’d been meaning to go through and make a list of items they needed to restock on, but the day turned out to be a bit more busy than she had planned. Between a potion induced sleeping child, five other high energy and rambunctious children, and making sure their wards protecting the cottage would withstand the storm outside, she was surprised she was able to find the time to get anything else done.</p><p>	“Can I help?” Sadie’s voice came from behind her.</p><p>	Minerva turned and gave her student a smile, “Of course, Dear. Hop up!” </p><p>She patted the counter top where she wanted Sadie to sit. The child struggled for a moment as she tried to hoist herself up, eventually having to get a little help from Sirius, who lifted her up to where she needed to be. He checked in to make sure Minerva was alright before disappearing into their bedroom. He needed to get some rest before his shift of guard duty. The storm was weakening the perimeter they’d set up, so he and Lupin agreed to stay up and keep an eye out for any danger. The chances of anything happening were slim to none, but they couldn’t be too careful.</p><p>“What’s this stuff?” Sadie asked as she picked up one of the jars.</p><p>“Gillyweed,” Minerva responded without looking up from the piece of paper in front of her.</p><p>	“What’s it for?”</p><p>	“It gives you gills so you can breathe while in water,” She responded, half distracted by her task.</p><p>	“Will we ever get to use it.”</p><p>	Minerva set down the piece of paper beside the various items that were covering the top of the counter, “One day, maybe.” She took the jar and put it on the other side of Sadie, handed her another and asked, “Now, you tell me, what’s this?”</p><p>	Sadie looked at her professor, then looked down at the jar, then back at her professor before answered, “Root of Asphodel?”</p><p>	“Very good. Now, start naming off as many of the items as you can.”</p><p>	Sadie looked at her excitedly, “Okay.” As Minerva went back to her list, Sadie grabbed the first jar she could identify, “Honeywater.”</p><p>	“Mhmm.”</p><p>	“Uhhh… Neem Oil?”</p><p>	“Correct.”</p><p>	“This is definitely Eye of Newt.”</p><p>	Minerva looked up from her list, “That is.”</p><p>	Sadie hesitantly reached for a glass bottle of red liquid, “Pomegranate juice?” She took the lid off and smelled the red liquid, grimaced, and said, “That’s not pomegranate juice.”</p><p>	The professor looked up again, puzzled, because she knew she didn’t have any in stock yet. As she took the bottle from Sadie, she rolled it over to look at the label, which had unfortunately come off. Comparing the items on her list, she looked from one to the other, trying to narrow down which ingredient she was holding.</p><p>	“Re’em blood.”</p><p>	The two of them turned their heads to see Rain standing beside them, bed comforter wrapped around her. Minerva asked, “How do you know?”</p><p>	“Because Professor Snape has been yelling at me over not being able to tell the difference between Dragon blood and Re’em blood, so I took the label off the Re’em blood. That way next time he asks, I know which one he’s holding.”</p><p>	“There’s no way he’ll fall for that.” Sadie said in disbelief.</p><p>	A smile spread across Rain’s face as she responded, “It’ll be funny if he does, though.”</p><p>	Minerva tried to hide a grin as she rolled her eyes and took a piece of paper from the drawer next to the counter Sadie was sitting on. She wrote the name of what was in the glass container on the paper, then handed it and the bottle to Rain and told her, “Stick it to the jar.”</p><p>	Rain groaned, “But I’m not good at this stuff.”</p><p>	“I know. That’s why I asked you to do it. You can use the practice.”</p><p>	“But what if I accidentally stick it to my hand?”</p><p>	“Well, don’t point your wand at your hand when you say the incantation,” Minerva said as she stepped back to watch.</p><p>	Hesitantly, Rain pulled out her wand, pointed it at the label that she was pinning down with her finger tips, and quietly said, “Inhaero.”</p><p>	She moved her fingers and the piece of parchment floated to the ground. Rain picked it up and recited the charm once again. When she removed her fingers this time, the top left corner clung to the glass for a short time, before unsticking and drifting down. Instead of trying again, she handed the bottle to Sadie, who had proven to be the best of the six at charms. Sadie repeated the same steps, only when she set the bottle on the counter top, the label didn’t call off.</p><p>	“It’s okay,” Sadie started, “Christmas break starts in a couple days and we can work on it. There’s probably plenty of things we can stick stuff to in here and up at the castle.”</p><p>	“Yeah, a few weeks of practicing spells, charms, and flying. We’ll all be pro’s by the end of the break,” Preston said from across the room as he held Liam in a headlock.</p><p>	Minerva asked, “None of you are going home for winter break?”</p><p>	“Home? What home?” Preston remarked sarcastically.</p><p>	Sadie told their professor, “We don’t even know how we got here, let alone where our homes are.”</p><p>	Rain added, “None of us have any memory of a life where Hogwarts existed.”</p><p>	Their professor set down her list and asked them, “What do you mean?”</p><p>	“We just woke up here!” Sadie answered her dramatically. “We were all adults, with jobs, doing adult things like getting drunk… And I was married!”</p><p>	Rain interjected, “I was born in 1992. It is currently 1998, about to be 1999… I should only be seven.”</p><p>	“That’s not even the worst part,” Preston pointed out, “We have to go through puberty AGAIN. As if it wasn’t bad enough the first time.”</p><p>	Sirius asked, “So all of you have somehow been reverted back to being children?”</p><p>	Liam pulled Preston down and sat on his back before replying, “I’m supposed to be in my thirties. I woke up in eleven-year-old me’s body.”</p><p>	“That’s intriguing.” Sirius told them with a fascinated smile.</p><p>	Minerva looked at each of them with an expression of disbelief, “None of you remember coming to Hogwarts?”</p><p>	“Nope!” They all said in unison.</p><p>	“You each got sorted into a house. I remember seeing you all walk up to the chair.”</p><p>	Sadie shrugged, “Doesn’t make sense to use either.”</p><p>	Rain told her, “If it makes you feel any better, Professor, I don’t think we mind having you and the other professors take care of us. Maybe this time the last couple years of my childhood won’t suck.”</p><p>	Minerva didn’t know how to respond to this new revelation, “Thank you Rain. Um… I think I need to speak with Professor Dumbledore.” She looked over at Sirius, who was now leaning over the back of the sofa, watching the two boys duke it out, “Sirius, can you keep an eye on-”</p><p>	“Of course!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter Six</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Minerva carefully closed the front door to the cottage and quietly made her way to her bedroom. She changed into her pajamas and made her way back into the common room where she found Sirius waiting for her, Sadie asleep in his lap. He greeted her with a smile as she sat down next to him. He was alarmingly calm regarding the news that was given to them only a few hours ago.</p><p>	“So how did it go? You’ve been gone for hours.” He finally whispered as Minerva got comfortable and draped the blanket that was on the other side of the couch over her lap.</p><p>	She took a breath, “No one knows where they came from or how they got here. The Ministry is working on it, but we won’t have any answers for a little while.”</p><p>	“What do we do in the meantime?”</p><p>	“We just continue to look after them. Frankly, I just want to make sure we aren’t preventing them from getting home to a family that loves and cares about them.”</p><p>	“One of the smaller ones said-”</p><p>	“I know what Rain said, but false memories are easy enough to create. If it turns out that someone did erase their memories and created false ones, she could have a kind and loving home waiting for her. They all could.”</p><p>	“And if not, then they have one here, right?"</p><p>	“It’s not a permanent solution, but Hogwarts will be the best place for them if we can’t find their families.”</p><p>	Sirius put his left arm around Minerva and told her, “For what it’s worth, they all like you.”</p><p>	A half asleep Rain stood to the left of Minerva, rubbing her eyes, and said, “That’s my blanket.”</p><p>	Minerva patted the couch cushion next to her, “I’m sorry, dear. Come lay down.”</p><p>	The girl carefully curled up next to the professor, her feet against the end of the couch so that her head was next to Minerva. The woman put the blanket over her, making sure it covered her feet, then conjured one up for herself and Sirius. As she laid it across her lap and attempted to cover Sirius’s knees, he put out his hand as a way to politely decline.</p><p>	“This one is keeping me plenty warm.” He told her.</p><p>	Minerva grinned as she looked from the sleeping student in his lap to him, “Let me know if you change your mind.”</p><p>	As the professor relaxed into her seat, she felt a pressure on her legs and looked down. Rain had moved and put her head in the woman’s lap. Minerva could feel the satisfied smile on Sirius’s face, but chose to ignore him as she stroked the girl’s hair. The thought of taking them in had crossed her mind. She could agree that they seemed to like her and she had undoubtedly grown more fond of them than she let on. The thought was only brief, however. She didn’t want to get too attached to them, nor them to her, if they had homes to return to. </p><p>“So what are you going to do if they turn out to be orphans?” Sirius finally asked once he was certain that Rain had fallen asleep.</p><p>Minerva looked around the room at each of the students who had sprawled out around the common room and told him, “Well, I can’t very well leave them without a home.”</p><p>Sirius shook his head and responded, “Of course not, that would be irresponsible.”</p><p>“I suppose I could look after them for a while.”</p><p>“It would only be temporary,” He encouraged.</p><p>“I suppose I’ve also become too attached to hand them over to someone else,” She admitted.</p><p>Sirius raised an eyebrow, “ I don’t believe it. Minerva McGonagall letting down her guard?” He teased, “And it’s not even a weekend.”</p><p>“I’m not made of stone, Sirius. I have feelings and emotions like everyone else. I’m just careful about who I let see them and when.”</p><p> Sirius gave her a gentle side squeeze, “You always were the most sensible person in the room.”</p><p>Minerva rested her head on his shoulder as she let out a yawn and told him, “We better make up a bed somewhere, we need to be up early to get everything ready tomorrow. Dumbledore wants to meet with us before lunch about the Ministry’s findings. If they even have any.”</p><p>Sirius nodded, “Alright, my dear.”</p><p>The pair carefully maneuvered their way out from under the students that were resting on them, taking the time to make sure they were fully covered and resting comfortably. As Sirius tucked them in, Minerva used a spell to turn the table into a bed that faced the fireplace. She crawled in under the covers and watched Sirius. During the transition Sadie had woken up and began whispering to Sirius. He whispered something back and then tiptoed behind the sofa, to the bed where Minerva was waiting.</p><p>“Is everything alright?” She asked.</p><p>Sirius, who was wearing a smile on his face as he crawled under the blankets, replied, “She told me that if they can’t find their homes, they already agreed to ask if they could stay with you.”</p><p>	The professor grinned, “We’ll find out tomorrow.”</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>Minerva nervously made her way around the cottage, making sure everything was in place before she and Sirius left to meet with Dumbledore. As she set out food for lunch, her counterpart assigned them a couple chapters of reading from each subject. Once she was sure they were ready to leave, Minerva took the bag of floo powder from the mantle of the fireplace and said goodbye.</p><p>“There’s food on the counter for lunch and a warming active,” She said as she took a handful of the powder, “So there should be no need for anyone to start a fire or cook anything. Sirius and I will be back in a couple of hours, at most. Don’t leave this cottage. I will know if you do.”</p><p>She threw the floo powder down and disappeared. Sirius turned to them and said, “Just focus on your homework.”</p><p>“Can do, will do,” Preston replied.</p><p>“Liam, you’re in charge.”</p><p>“What? Why is he in charge?” Sadie asked.</p><p>Sirius looked down at her, “Because he’s the most responsible.”</p><p>Ash raised her hand, “Hey, what about me? I’m never the one to come up with the ideas that almost get us killed.”</p><p>“Hey! That’s happened once!” Preston told her.</p><p>Sirius put up his hands to stop the commotion before it got out of hand, “You six have a habit of putting your selves in danger. Liam just happens to seem the least excited about it when we find you. Just don’t leave and do your homework.” He took a handful of powder and followed Minerva’s lead.</p><p>As he disappeared, Rain asked, “What homework?”</p><p>“That long ass list of reading,” Preston told her.</p><p>	Sadie pulled out her wand, pointed it at the floor, and shouted, “Spongify!”</p><p>	The floor under the students feet became soft and springy, almost like a mattress. The six of them jumped around to test it out before finding a comfortable place to kick back and begin their studies. Just like always, they worked together to finish their assigned reading and took notes for each subject. Within a couple of hours they’d finished their homework and decided to eat lunch while they did some extra studying. </p><p>Liam and Ash had trouble with their studies for Transfiguration, so everyone helped them tackle that first. Preston couldn’t understand some of the Herbology reading, so the group did their best to clarify it for him. They were in the middle of helping Rain with Charms when a loud crash came from the other side of the sofas. All of the students shot up and let out a scream as they backed away, wands out and at the ready. Gusts of wind began to blow snow into the cottage as a Centaur stepped through the front door. </p><p>The Centaur looked at the frightened students and said, “Put your wands down. I won’t harm you.”</p><p>Preston puffed out his chest to look bigger as he replied, “You busted in here like you want to harm us. What do you want?”</p><p>A thud came from the fireplace behind them and the students turned to see Sirius lunge out and stand in front of the students. He pushed them back and took a step forward with his wand out, just in time for McGonagall to appear in the fireplace. Without hesitation, she pulled her own wand from the sleeve of her rob and pointed it at the uninvited guest, as she used herself to shield her students as best she could.</p><p>“Who the bloody hell are you?” Sirius demanded.</p><p>Minerva hissed, “Sirius, behave.” She looked at the Centaur and inquired, “What is the meaning of this?”</p><p>The Centaur took a couple of steps back as he answered, “My name is Bane. I’m here to tell you to leave our land.”</p><p>The professor kept her wand aimed at him as she said, “We were told this was not part of your territory and that you agreed to let us be neighbors.”</p><p>Bane told her, “It was agreed that you could stay here, so long as you didn’t encroach on our land. Over the last few weeks we have had to chase students away. Just yesterday I caught them trying to sneak up on us again.”</p><p>	The professor lowered her wand as she turned to look at the children behind her. She knew there was no possible way they were the group of students involved in the most recent incident. They were inside all day, with the exception of going out to get more firewood from the shed. No one was out of her sight or earshot for more than a minute or two. She looked back at the Centaur and studied his face.</p><p>	“These weren’t the students you saw, correct?” She finally asked as she stepped aside.</p><p>	He shook his head, “No. Your children have respected the agreement.”</p><p>	Rain whispered, “What agreement?”</p><p>	Sadie shushed her, “We’ll ask later.”</p><p>	Sirius finally let his wand down as he asked another question, “Did these students happen to be wearing Slytherin uniforms? Perhaps robes that look like his,” Sirius reached back and pulled Preston forward.</p><p>	Bane nodded, “Several of them did. Some had robes that matched your other children.”</p><p>	Emmett put up his index finger and interjected from behind McGonagall, “Uh, we’re not their children.”</p><p>	Sadie and Rain scowled at him as Preston argued, “I mean, she’s damn near close to being our mother.”</p><p>	McGonagall huffed in frustration at the situation with the Centaur as she pulled Preston back behind her. The only group of students that would have been seen together that consisted mostly of Slytherin were Penelope and her friends. Her blood boiled at the thought of that collection of troublemakers hunting down her students to do god-knows-what to them. She shot a sharp look at Bane.</p><p>	“I think I know the students you are referring to. Have you seen them today?”</p><p>	Bane shook his head, “Not yet, but I don’t doubt that they’ll show up. They always do.”</p><p>	Minerva nodded in solidarity with the Centaur’s irritation, “I will be speaking with Dumbledore about this. Tell your colony not to worry, the students responsible for causing you trouble will be dealt with. You have my word.”</p><p>	“I certainly hope so,” Bane told her as he turned and ran out into the snow storm.</p><p>	Minerva waited until the Centaur had disappeared into the sea of white before telling Sirius, “We need to let Dumbledore know that Penelope and her friends have been out skulking around the forest to try and find us.”</p><p>Her partner grabbed a fist full of floo powder and said, “I’ll go talk with him.”</p><p>The man vanished with a puff of smoke and the room was left quiet, except for the howling winds that were making their way into the cottage. Minerva began casting spells to fix the door and clean up the snow as the students tried to calm down from all of the excitement. Ash, Preston, and Sadie were talking excitedly about what had just happened while Rain stood in their circle silently. Emmett was busy helping Minerva clean up, while Liam disappeared into their room and returned wearing his Hogwarts sweater.</p><p>	The tension was interrupted when Ash inquired, “Did anyone else hear that really high pitched scream?”</p><p>	Everyone looked at Rain, who immediately argued, “I don’t even think I did scream. Yelped at best. It had to be someone else.”</p><p>	“It came from way behind me. Who was in the very back?” Sadie asked.</p><p>	Emmett chuckled, “Preston was.”</p><p>	They all looked at him as he tried to shrink, “Whaaat? I was scared.”</p><p>	Liam giggled maniacally, “That was you?”</p><p>Sadie laughed, “I didn’t realize you had that kind of range on you, Preston.”</p><p>“Shut up! You all screamed too.” Preston defended himself.</p><p>Minerva stepped in, “Everyone calm down. I want Sadie and Ash to come help me get a few ingredients together. Emmett and Preston, can you please go make sure all the windows are locked? Rain, come try out some of your charms and spells to clean up this snow. Liam, can you help her?”</p><p>“Sure,” He answered hesitantly as he walked around the seating area.</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	“I can not believe this,” Minerva said as she and Sirius sat in their bedroom. “We shouldn’t have to use a cloaking charm as well as the wards and a repelling charm. What is the point of having us all the way out here if we aren’t even hidden?”</p><p>	Sirius sighed, “I know you wanted to keep them close to the castle, but maybe we should move further into the forest. I asked Dumbledore if there were any other places we could go and he suggested we move to an area far enough away that no one would just stumble upon it. Neville Longbottom needs to get some teaching practice in and Professor Sprout offered to give him what he needs to start a garden with the kids.”</p><p>	Minerva rubbed her temples, “I don’t want to take them that far away from the school. They won’t get the full Hogwarts experience if we can’t find a solution to this problem.”</p><p>	“I know. But now that we know Hogwarts is the only home they have now, maybe we should let them enjoy it?”</p><p>	“Liam, give it back!” They heard Rain shout from the common room.</p><p>	“What in the-”</p><p>	The door flew open and Sadie ran in, “Mom… uh… Gonagall, uh... Liam took Rain’s wand and won’t give it back.”</p><p>	Minerva got up from the desk where she was sitting and called out, “Liam, give her wand back to her. If you can’t behave, I’m going to have to take points from your house.” She looked down at Sadie, “Please knock the next time.”</p><p>	Sadie nodded, “Yes ma’am.”</p><p>	As the girl closed the door behind her, Sirius looked at Minerva and asked, “Did she call you ‘mom’ when she came in?”</p><p>	“What do you mean?”</p><p>	Sirius looked from the door, followed the path Sadie had run in and confirmed, “She did. She called you her mom and tried to cover it up. Did you not hear it?”</p><p>	“Don’t be silly. She just got tongue tied.”</p><p>	“Could be, but I don’t know. It sounded like she slipped up.” He watched as the woman tried to hide how flustered she was by organizing the small stack of papers on her desk. “You know, I think they’d like being taught here at home.”</p><p>	“Maybe.” McGonagall let out a sigh, “I’ll send a letter to let him know we’re going to move the cottage. Can you tell the children to get ready and, if you can, find the car?”</p><p>	Sirius looked at her with a smile as he threw open the door and announced, “Children, gather your things. We’re going for a car ride.”</p><p>	The room erupted into commotion as they all began asking questions. Rather than ruin the surprise, he told them they were going on a trip into the forest and needed to get their coats. Everyone did as they were told, except Rain, who had taken the comforter off her bed. Sirius didn’t want to cause any issues, so he left to find the car the students had found not long ago. Almost as if it knew they needed a mode of transportation, the tiny beat up vehicle came out from the tree line and waited at the edge of the protective ring.</p><p>	“Can we get in?” Sadie asked from the front doorway.</p><p>	Sirius put his arm out in the direction of the car, “Be my guest. Just don’t take off until Professor McGonagall and I get out here.”</p><p>	He watched as everyone loaded up into the Ford and went inside to get Minerva. The professor sent out an owl with a letter attached to it, telling the Headmaster that they would be moving deeper into the wooded area of Hogwarts. By the time he got out to the car, everyone was seated and waiting patiently. Ash was sitting in the middle of the front bench, the back seat and morphed into a u-shaped bench seat with Preston sitting behind the driver seat, the back of it on his right. Emmett sat to the left of Preston, almost in the corner of the bench. Sadie and Rain were sitting in the center, directly under the back window, while Liam sat with his back to the window on the passenger side of the car. Sirius took the driver seat as Minerva sat in the front next to Ash. She handed a lap blanket to each of the students before getting in, stopping at the sight of Sadie and Rain wrapped in a comforter. She gave them the blankets and took her seat, almost not surprised to see the two of them huddled to keep warm.</p><p>	“Everyone ready?” Sirius asked.</p><p>	“Ready!” Everyone answered in unison.</p><p>	He put the car in gear and gently pushed on the gas. As old and beat up as it was, the vehicle ran more smoothly than it’s condition led on. Emmett directed the way to the makeshift bridge they’d created. In order to get across, Minerva charmed the wood and gave them a secure drive across. As soon as the wheels reached the other side, the wood returned to its natural form.</p><p>	“Keep your eyes out for a good spot.”</p><p>	Minerva added, “It needs to be in an area open enough for you to practice your defensive spells outside, but not so open that it can be easily found.”</p><p>	Preston turned to look out the window behind him and asked, “Why not just live in a treehouse?”</p><p>	Minerva let out a brief chuckle, “I would like to keep us on the ground for the time being.”</p><p>	Liam chimed in, “I wouldn’t mind living in a treehouse. It’d be kind of cool.”</p><p>	“I would. These trees are huge, I would be too afraid to try and get up into the house,” Rain said. “Why don’t we just build the house under the lake? No one would think so look there.”</p><p>	“Do you wanna deal with Grindylows? I don’t think so.” Sirius pointed out.</p><p>“What is a Grindylow?”</p><p>	McGonagall turned to look at Rain and answered, “It’s a type of water demon.”</p><p>	“Nasty little buggers.” Sirius added.</p><p>	The group traveled on into the forest. Ash was the first one to fall asleep. Minerva wrapped her arms around the girl as they continued their journey. Liam laid across his side of the back seat, curling up so there would be enough room for Sadie to kick back if she wanted. Seeing that there wouldn’t be much room, Preston moved to the floor. In order to make him comfortable, McGonagall conjured up a padded mat that allowed the boy to fall asleep along the backside of the front row bench, head to head with Liam. Emmett laid with his feet down by Preston’s and his head in the direction of Rain. The last two students to fall asleep were Sadie and Rain, as usual. Sirius talked to them until they finally closed their eyes and drifted off.</p><p>	“I think they’re finally asleep.” He told Minerva.</p><p>	The professor turned and watched them for a few seconds, “Lately they’ve been the last two to fall asleep.”<br/>	“I noticed that. Two peas in a pod, I assume?”</p><p>	Minerva grinned, “Oh yeah. If Sadie is going to do something, Rain and Preston are usually the first two to follow.”</p><p>	Sirius nodded, “I noticed Sadie and Preston feed off each other and that gets Rain worked up. Emmett jumps in from time to time too. Ash and Liam seem to do their own thing.”</p><p>	“Liam is my least troublesome one.” She caught the smirk on Sirius’s face. “I supposed you’re going to make that into something.”</p><p>	He shrugged, “I just think it’s adorable. You are definitely trying to hide behind a wall of professionalism.”</p><p>	“I’m not hiding. It’s not appropriate to blur the lines of work life and home life.”</p><p>	“We’re all living together. Work life is home life.” He looked around to see if he could find a good spot to stop and set up their new home. Nothing. “All I’m saying is, you’re trying too hard to seem like you don’t care for them.”</p><p>	“I never said I don’t care for them,” Minerva defended. “If I didn’t care for them, we wouldn’t be out in the middle of the Forbidden Forest after sundown looking for a place that I can keep them safe from a group of students that is suspected of trying to kill them.”</p><p>	Sirius looked at the woman, “Kill them?”</p><p>	“It’s only suspicion. We have no solid proof. Apparently Hermione and Ginny overheard Penelope and her gang of miscreants plotting, so they rushed to Dumbledore. They didn’t quite hear the full conversation, but they said it sounded like they were up to no good.”</p><p>	“Dumbledore mentioned Penelope has begun making more and more friends too. It’s his understanding that there’s close to two dozen students standing behind her now.”</p><p>	“The last thing we need is an uprising in the school. That’s why I don’t want them going back.”</p><p>	Sirius hesitated before asking, “Do you promise not to get upset with me if I dig a little deeper here?”</p><p>	Minerva rolled her eyes, “How far?”</p><p>	“Well, I just need to know. Do you intend to - now I don’t know if this is the right term- claim them?”</p><p>	“Claim them?”</p><p>	“As your children. I will support you either way, but I want to know what I’m supporting you in.”</p><p>	She looked back at the sleeping students behind her, then the one she was holding, “I need to think about it.”</p><p>	“Without thinking, right now, what would you say.”</p><p>	“Sirius I don’t-”</p><p>	“Minnie, just give me an honest answer.”</p><p>	“Sirius, I would take them in as my own children in a heartbeat.”</p><p>	“Then why not do it?”</p><p>	Minerva sighed, “I don’t know. I’ve never been the maternal type. Yes, I can feed them, make sure they do their homework, and make sure they’re safe, but I’ve never had that maternal instinct.”</p><p>	A stifled giggle came from Sirius’s direction, “Minnie, you do not give yourself nearly enough credit.” He paused to think before asking, “Do you remember that night when Rain had her night terror.”</p><p>	“Yes. It was one of the longest nights we ever had. Why?”</p><p>	Sirius asked, “You really don’t see it, do you?”</p><p>	“See what? Sirius, just spit it out.”</p><p>	“You got up and ran into her room before anyone even knew what was going on. I was still asleep on the couch when you brought her into the common room. I woke up to you sitting with her in your lap and everyone else sitting around the couch. You didn’t even go back to bed after that.” He stopped to think of another example. “You’ve been training Ash and Preston for the Quidditch team since they started flying. You didn’t even have to ask. You knew they would be good at it right away.” He paused again before adding, “Emmett had that rough few days and you didn’t take your eyes off him, yet you managed to keep up with all your other responsibilities.”</p><p>	“What is your point?”</p><p>	“You’re maternal. In fact, I’d put you right up there with Molly Weasley.”</p><p>	“You’re kind to think so, but I still don’t know if I’m ready. I thought I would have children of my own one day, but I think teaching is as close as I’ll ever get.”</p><p>	Sirius pointed to her and Ash, “I don’t know of too many professors that hold their sleeping students.” As Minerva gave him a warning look, he added, “I’m just saying that I think you fit well with them and it would be a good idea.”</p><p>	“Duly noted.”</p><p>	The pair sat in silence for the next several minutes, keeping an eye out for a good spot to put the new cottage. It wasn’t until nearly dawn that they found the perfect place. There was a pool of water that was being filtered by a waterfall and stream, plenty of open space for defensive training, even enough of a clearing in the canopy for them to see the stars at night. Sirius got out of the car and immediately began setting up, while Minerva carefully got out of her seat, making sure not to wake Ash.</p><p>	“A fireplace in the children’s room, right?” Sirius asked her as she approached.</p><p>	Minerva thought for a moment, “Actually, let’s do this.”</p><p>	The professor waved her wand and a large cabin style house began to form. It was at least three times larger than the cottage they’d been tripping over each other in before. Sirius stepped into a large, open floor area. To his right was a dining area with a large table that seemed to be a bit bigger than the one they had before. In front of him was a fully updated kitchen with a large fridge, plenty of counter space, and ample storage. To the right of the kitchen was a spiral staircase that opened into a balcony. To his left sat a study area in the front corner and a seating area in the back corner of the room, complete with a large fireplace and full sectional sofa set. </p><p>Between the living room and kitchen was an archway that led to a hall with several doors running down the left hand side. Sirius pushed the first door open to reveal a full bathroom with a shower, toilet, sink, and mirror. The second door revealed the same, as did the third and fourth. There was one door at the end of the hall, facing him directly in front of where he had entered in at. To his right was another archway, to his left was the final bathroom. When he pushed open the door in front of him, it revealed a master suite. A bed big enough for five was directly in front of him. On the opposite side of the room was a fireplace, which sat to the right of another door. To Sirius’s left was a dress, which sat adjacent to the other door and across from a large bookshelf that sat between the two bedroom windows. At the foot of the bed sat a chest. He walked over and opened the other door to reveal a private bathroom. When he turned to walk out and speak with Minerva, he noticed yet another unknown door to the left of the headboard on the bed. He pushed it open to reveal a fully equipped office.</p><p>He made his way back to the main room when he noticed an open door beside the stairs. Poking his head in, it appeared to be a spare room with a large bed, dresser, fireplace, and desk. There had been mention of Lupin possibly staying with them for awhile and he wouldn’t be surprised if Minerva had conjured up this house to have a room just for him. In fact, he knew she would rather have a room for him, rather than spend the extra time trying to add it on after they were already settled in.</p><p>Making his way up the staircase, there was an open balcony that covered the kitchen portion of the lower floor and went back just as far. To the left were six doors, each one clearly belonging to a student. Sirius looked into each of the rooms to find that Minerva had left them with the option to decorate their rooms on their own. Each piece of furniture was plain looking, the beds were all white, and even the curtains lacked color.</p><p>Turning to leave, he could hear voices coming from the bottom level. He walked out to find Preston, Liam, and Sadie standing in the entryway. Ash and Emmett walked in shortly after, while Minerva struggled to get Rain to leave her sleeping spot. Soon enough everyone was inside and exploring their new home. Minerva walked around to make sure everything was in its place, while the children ran through the house.</p><p>“They certainly seem happy with the new home,” Sirius told Minerva as she joined him on the couch. “This new sofa is a great addition, what gave this idea?”</p><p>	Minerva smiled, “I saw it in a muggle magazine the last time I took a trip home to see my family.“</p><p>	After all the excitement of the new home died down, Minerva helped everyone get ready for bed as Sirius went out and warded the perimeter. By the time she got everyone to sleep, the clearing was protected and Sirius had already climbed into bed. Minerva was exhausted and ready for the upcoming Christmas break. One more day. She just needed to make it through one more day.</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	“The first day of Christmas break and you’ve already managed to get hurt,” Snape said as he carried Rain to the house.</p><p>	Sirius followed behind his colleague, Preston leaning against him as he limped back home, “We told you to be careful. Minerva is going to have a field day.”</p><p>	Emmett was following behind them with Sadie on his back, “I told them not to do it.”</p><p>	Minerva threw the front door open, “What is this?”</p><p>	Snape pushed by her as he explained, “Rain and Preston decided to duel and I’ll give you a guess as to who tried to get fancy.” He laid a groaning Rain down on the sofa and angrily ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ve told her more times than I can count that she is not ready to try and be tricky. She can barely identify ingredients for potions, let alone pronounce spells.”</p><p>	Minerva scolded him, “There is no need to berate her for getting hurt. The damage is done. Just get me the necessary potions and we can move on.”</p><p>	“We need one to cure her stupidity.”</p><p>	“Severus!” Minerva shouted at him.</p><p>	Sirius helped Preston ease his way onto the end of the couch as he said, “Go calm down outside. I’ll go get the potions.” </p><p>Minerva walked by as Emmett stopped in front of the kitchen with Rain in tote. “What happened to you?” She asked.</p><p>Sadie tapped Emmett’s shoulder to put her down and replied, “I just didn’t want to walk back.”</p><p>Rain let out a pained cry as Sirius poked and prodded at her. A jolt of adrenaline shot through Minerva as she dug through the potions cabinet for what she needed. Sirius began lecturing Snape on his attitude toward the students while Minerva rattled off a short list of things she needed the students to get from the storeroom in the back of the house. They ran to a secret passage that was located on the opposite side of the hallway from the master suite. A moment later they reappeared, seemingly from the wall, each holding various bottles, jars, and vials. They set them down and McGonagall looked through them to find what she needed for a potion after setting up the cauldron. Snape walked over and insisted Minerva allow him to make it while she tended to the injured students, all while arguing with Sirius.</p><p>"You can't yell at them every time something goes wrong!" Sirius said.</p><p>Snape grabbed a jar and sprinkled some of the ingredients into the cauldron, "I don't yell at them every time something goes wrong. I only yell at them when they practically kill themselves, doing something as stupid as using spells they aren't good at!"</p><p>Minerva stomped over and told them in a low growl, "Either make the potion or go outside to finish your spat. Right now I have two injured children that would very much like to not writhe in pain."</p><p>"I'll go get Madam Pomfrey," Sirius offered. He pointed at Snape and told him, "I'm not through with you."</p><p>As Sirius traveled via the floo network to get the healer, Minerva went back to helping her injured students. Preston's ankle was either broken or severely sprained and Rain could have had anything wrong with her, but the struggle to take in oxygen was a concern. Snape walked over and administered the low grade healing potion he brewed. It wasn't strong enough to actually heal them, but it would dull the pain.</p><p>“What kind of potion is that?” Sadie asked as Preston took a drink.</p><p>	Snape’s tone and face softened as he replied, “It’s like a healing potion, but it just numbs the pain. I had a feeling we would need something like this. With how often all of you like to rough house and get hurt, I knew it would only be a matter of time before we would need it.”</p><p>	“You made a potion for us?” Preston asked as he handed the vial back.</p><p>	Snape handed it to Minerva to give to Rain as he replied, “Why wouldn’t I?”</p><p>	Emmett threw his hands up and said, “Geez, I don’t know. Maybe because all you do is yell at us and tell us how we fuck up all the time?”</p><p>	Minerva looked up at him as he paced around behind the sofas and said, “That’s quite enough, Emmett. There’s no need for that language.”</p><p>	“I’m sorry,” He told her, “I’m just sick and tired of always getting yelled at.” He stopped pacing long enough to tell the woman looking at him, “He was supposed to be watching us to make sure we were doing these spells right anyway. He wasn’t doing anything to help Rain and look what happened.”</p><p>	Snape walked back to the kitchen as he retorted, “If she had been paying attention, she would have known what to do.”</p><p>	“Are you-” Emmett stopped himself as he walked out of the house.</p><p>	Sadie looked at Minerva and told her, “Rain didn’t understand the lesson. She wasn’t comfortable with using the spell and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get anything to happen when she flicked her wand, so we made a game out of it to make her feel better. We were intentionally mispronouncing the words while doing fake kung fu moves.”</p><p>	Minerva handed the potion to Sadie and asked, “Can you go put this in the cabinet for me, dear?”</p><p>	“Yes ma’am.”</p><p>	The professor turned to talk to Preston, but he spoke before she could. “Sadie’s telling the truth. She didn’t say it correctly, but she definitely did something. It backfired, though, and threw her into a tree pretty hard. If it weren’t for the fact that I didn’t have enough time to catch myself, I probably wouldn’t have been hurt.”</p><p>	“So then how did you hurt your ankle?”</p><p>	“I got tossed back a couple feet, but landed wrong.”</p><p>	Liam got up from his seat in the corner of the study area and announced, “I think I’m gonna go outside and see what Emmett is doing.”</p><p>	Just as the front door closed behind him, Madam Pomfrey appeared in the unlit fireplace. “Good evening, Minerva.” She said as she stepped out. “I assume these are the patients?”</p><p>	McGonagall replied, “Yes, Poppy. You know Preston and Rain.”</p><p>	“Ah, yes. I remember the two of you.” She looked in Sadie’s direction and added, “I remember you too, Miss Bell.” As she turned her attention back to the injured students, she told Minerva, “I see things haven’t changed much since the last time they were in my infirmary.”</p><p>	“They are nothing if not consistent, my dear friend.”</p><p>	Madam Pomfrey examined Rain first and found that the backfired spell had weakened her lungs, nearly paralysing them. She pulled a potion out of the bag she’d brought with her and gave it to Minerva, instructing her to have Rain take a drink of it as often as needed until her breathing returned to normal. She moved along to Preston and had his ankle fixed in a matter of minutes. He promptly stood up from the couch and jumped a couple of times to test and see how it felt. The tightness, swelling, and subtle pain were completely gone.</p><p>	“Well, if that’s all, I must get back to the castle. I need to make sure everything is in order before I leave to visit my family.” Madam Pomfrey said as she got up and walked toward the fireplace.</p><p>	“Of course, Poppy,” Minerva said as she got up and walked the other woman over, “I expect we’ll be seeing you again before the year is up.”</p><p>	She looked over her shoulder at the students who were not talking amongst themselves as she replied, “It would appear your children are far more rambunctious than I predicted they would be.” Before throwing down the powder she looked at her colleague and added, “You’re just the right person for the job, though.”</p><p>	Madam Pomfrey was gone before Minerva could utter any sort of argument. She turned and walked to the kitchen where Severus was cooking up another potion. His behavior was not only rage inducing, but odd. The way he answered Sadie was contradictory to the way he handled Rain and Preston being injured. It was almost as if he was over compensating or holding back, but she couldn’t tell what it was exactly. She wanted answers, even if that meant letting her emotions get the better of her.</p><p>	“What’s going on, Severus?” She asked, practically demanding.</p><p>	“Whatever do you mean?”</p><p>	“Why were you yelling and blaming Rain?”</p><p>	Snape dropped a few more ingredients into the cauldron before responding with, “Because if she’d been paying attention to begin with, she wouldn’t have hurt Preston or herself.”</p><p>	“They’re only eleven. They’re going to get hurt from time to time! You can’t let them treat magic like a joke, then get mad when something bad happens.” She stopped when the realization hit her. “Why didn’t you stop them when they began playing around?”</p><p>	He refused to look at her as he said in a low tone, “I didn’t want to ruin their fun.”</p><p>	Minerva raised her eyebrows at him as she put her hands on her hips, “So you were letting them have fun?”</p><p>	“Only for a little while.”</p><p>	“I told you, he likes us!” Sadie said from where she was sitting on the couch.</p><p>	Minerva pointed at the door and told them, “I want you all outside.” She waited until they’d closed the door behind them before returning to the conversation, “Why not?”</p><p>	Snape put in the final ingredient as he told her, “Because I know they think I don’t like them.” He sighed before he continued, “I might as well tell you.”</p><p>	“Tell me what?”</p><p>	“Sirius and I had a conversation a couple of days ago. He told me about what was going on with them and mentioned that you’d become closer to the children. When he mentioned the possibility of you becoming their guardian-”</p><p>	“Wait, their guardian? Severus, I can barely keep them alive as it is. I can’t be any sort of guardian. I told Sirius that.”</p><p>	Snape scoffed at her, “You really don’t see it.”</p><p>	“Sirius said the same thing. See what?”</p><p>	“It's obvious that you care about them. You should see how protective you get sometimes.”</p><p>	The front door flew open and Sadie announced, “Dumbledore is here!”</p><p>	“Thank you, Miss Bell,” The headmaster said as he stepped through the doorway, “Good evening Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall.”</p><p>	“Albus, how are you?” Minerva replied as she walked over to greet him.</p><p>	“I’m doing very well. I see the students I left in your care are thriving, as expected.”</p><p>	“They are. With the exception of a few minor incidents.”</p><p>	Dumbledore chuckled, “Mhmm, yes. Well, onto why I’m here. Minnie, can I speak with you privately?”</p><p>	“Yes, of course.”</p><p>	“It’s about the matter we touched on very briefly the other day,” He told her as they began walking to the spare room just off the dining room.</p><p>	“Albus, I told you already that I don’t think I’m ready.”</p><p>	He gave her a smile, “You really don’t see it?”</p><p>	“Why does everyone keep saying that?”</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	“Sirius, is McGonagall gonna be our new mom?” Sadie asked as she took the jar he was handing her to catch fireflies.</p><p>	The man smiled, “I don’t know, but it would be nice. Wouldn’t it?”</p><p>	Ash spoke up from behind him, “I think she takes pretty good care of us, all things considered.”</p><p>	“All things considered?”</p><p>	“Yeah,” Preston defended, “We get hurt, like all the time. It’s never her fault, though. We do it to ourselves. She has managed to stop a few disasters, though.”</p><p>	Lupin, who had only just been informed of the current situation, asked, “How often do you guys get hurt?”</p><p>	Preston chuckled, “Oh, at least once a week. If we haven’t hurt ourselves by Saturday, then we didn’t try hard enough and someone’s gotta stub a toe as they’re crawling into bed.” The strange response earned him a curious look from the werewolf. “It’s happened plenty of times. It’s the most common injury so far.”</p><p>	Lupin nodded, “I see.”</p><p>	Sadie asked, “Can we go catch fireflies now?”</p><p>	Sirius grinned at her, “Stay within my line of sight. Rain, come back straight away if you have difficulty breathing.”</p><p>	“I will!” Rain shouted over her shoulder as she ran into the wooded area to the left of the house.</p><p>	Lupin asked Sirius, “She’s been thinking for a while now. Do you think she’s going to tell Dumbledore yes?”</p><p>	Sirius refused to take his eyes off the students as he replied, “I don’t know, my friend. She’s a smart woman, I’m sure she’s weighing the pros and cons of the situation.”</p><p>	“I am as well, but you know Minnie.”</p><p>	“Yes, yes, she can’t be rash with her feelings and opinions. I know.” Sirius narrowed his eyes as he struggled to locate Liam, “Sometimes I wonder if she feels like she has to carry the world on her shoulders, or if she just does it for a hobby. Do you see Liam?”</p><p>	Lupin turned his attention to the trees, “Liam?” He shouted.</p><p>	“I could have done that myself.”</p><p>	“But you didn’t.”</p><p>	Liam stepped out from behind a bush and called back, “Yeah?”</p><p>	“Just checking you were still with the group,” Lupin told him, “Continue!”</p><p>	The two men heard Sadie shout, “Preston, if you don’t cut it out, I’m gonna tell Mom-Gonagall on you!”</p><p>	Lupin shot a curious look in Sirius’s direction, “Mom-Gonagall?”</p><p>	Sirius let out a quiet chuckle before answering, “Sadie slipped up recently and accidentally called Minnie ‘Mom’. They’ve made it into a joke now, but between you and me, I could tell she wasn’t put off by the title.”</p><p>	“It was her desire to have children, once upon a time,” Dumbledore pointed out as he walked up beside the men, putting Lupin in the middle of the trio.</p><p>	“No kidding.” Lupin sounded surprised. “She always talks about how she’s not fit to be a mother.”</p><p>	“Ah, yes. That’s because she never got around to being one. Heartbreak, timing, and focusing on her career forced her to put parenthood on the backburner.” Dumbledore looked to his left to make sure Minerva hadn’t followed him out. “It would appear as though that may be changing soon, though.”</p><p>	The other two men responded, “What?”</p><p>	Dumbledore gave them a half smile as he explained, “She has agreed to give it a go, based on how well things have fared. At least this time she knows what to expect as far as their home behavior is concerned.” He paused to let the news sink in before he told them, “She is going to be meeting with Molly Weasley tomorrow, so the children will be coming up to the castle to help the professors with any prep work that needs to be done, as well as getting time to know the grounds of this place. They haven’t had much of a chance to do that yet.”</p><p> </p><p>	From several feet into the woods they could hear a loud crack, crash, then a scream. “I’m fine!” They heard Rain call to them from the dark.</p><p>	“Raaaain!” Sirius warned.</p><p>	“I know, I know!” She called back. “Be careful and come back if I stop breathing!”</p><p>	“No, before that. If you stop breathing, Minerva won’t be happy with any of us.”</p><p>	“What if I just do it for a little bit? You know, get everyone’s adrenaline going.”</p><p>	Sirius rolled his eyes, “If you keep talking like that you’ll have to come back and go inside.”</p><p>	“Fine!”</p><p>	Dumbledore chuckled, “These kids have a unique charm to them.”</p><p>	Sirius nodded, “Oh yeah. They’re giving me grey hair.”</p><p>	Lupin plucked one from his head as he responded, “Don’t blame them for you getting old, Padfoot.”</p><p>	As the sun vanished completely, Minerva poked her head out of the front door and announced that dinner was ready. The group of children sprinted out of the thicket of trees and into the house as Sirius, Lupin, and Dumbledore walked in behind them. Inside the home Snape was setting out wine glasses for the adults and water glasses for the children. After everyone washed up they sat down together for their family meal in their new house. Minerva wanted to keep her decision a secret from the students until the right time presented itself, but something told her she wouldn’t be holding onto the news for too long.</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter Seven</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Minerva sat on the couch in the living room, watching the flames in the fireplace dance. She'd fallen asleep on the couch, but something had woken her up and she couldn't get back to sleep. The first couple days of winter break went smoothly, despite Rain's mishap with a defensive spell. Molly Weasley was gracious enough to give her a clock just like the one she had at home that she used to track her children. It made her feel a bit more at ease, being able to see where her children were at all times. So long as none of the hands were pointed at jail, lost, hospital, or mortal peril she would be happy.</p><p>The sound of whispering from the balcony and lights caught Minerva's attention. As she got up from where she was sitting and made her way to the staircase it became more apparent that all six of the children were awake and discussing something. Slowly, she began to ascend the stairs, when another familiar voice caught her off guard. Was that Severus? It couldn't be. It sounded like Sirius was with them as well! She climbed up just enough stairs to sit as close to the top as she could, without them seeing her.</p><p>Sure enough, Sirius and Severus were both sitting in the dark with their students standing in the middle of the loft area, wands out and illuminated. She watched as Snape got up and put his hand around Rain's as she gripped her wand, helping her learn the proper wand movement for the sticking charm she'd been struggling to get the hang of. It was clear that the girl was getting frustrated, but Minerva couldn't tell if it was herself or Snape that was aggravating her.</p><p>"First go counter clockwise and then flick up just before the end of the incantation," Snape said as he stepped in front of her and stood back to see the results.</p><p>"Inhaero," Rain whispered as she pointed her wand at a book that was sitting on the ground between her and the professor.</p><p>Sadie whispered, "Did it work?"</p><p>Snape gave her a side glance as he responded, "I don't know. Let's find ou-" He was caught off guard as he tried to take a step forward, but was unable to.</p><p>"I think we found our answer," Sirius told her with a wink.</p><p>Everyone stifled their giggling, including Minerva as she continued to lurk in the corner. Snape, who was unamused, reached for his wand only to find he had left it in his room downstairs. He let out a huff just as Sirius snuck up behind him and shoved him over, causing him to fall out of his shoes. The group of children that were standing off to the side struggled to keep in their hysteria as Snape got up and took a step toward Sirius. Rain, however, was unable to move due to fear.</p><p>"You alright, ole boy?" Sirius asked as his colleague.</p><p>Snape tried his best to hide his rage as he said through gritted teeth, "I'm fine."</p><p>Minerva got up from where she was sitting and cleared her throat before releasing Snape's shoes from the floor. "Maybe we should all get some sleep and resume this in the morning?"</p><p>"No, please, we were just starting to have fun!" Sadie begged.</p><p>"It's someone else's turn anyway. Won't happen again," Rain assured the professor as she sheepishly made her way past the two men and took her spot at the very end of the line.</p><p>Minerva shot a look at her partners and said, "Well then maybe we should move on? Rain, come back and try again. You have the wand movement down, now we need to work on your timing."</p><p>"And your aim," Snape remarked.</p><p>"Severus," Minerva warned.</p><p>Snape put his shoes back on and made his way back to the corner where he and Sirius had been sitting before, glaring back at Rain. Minerva could tell she was unnerved by the other professor's attitude and quickly stood between them so that there were no distractions. Raising her wand, Rain said the incantation and threw it in the direction of the book. Sadie then cleverly used a levitation charm to check and see if it had worked. There was no movement. Minerva smiled at her student, before gesturing to her to get back in line.</p><p>The remainder of the early morning hours were spent with the students taking turns, perfecting their spellcasting skill. Still feeling bitter about what had happened, Snape turned in hours before anyone else. Sadie, being the only student in the group that didn't have any trouble when it came to casting charms and spells, went to bed shortly after Snape. Ash and Emmett followed an hour later, barely able to keep their eyes open. Once she felt they'd had enough practice, Minerva instructed them to go to bed, cleaning up the various objects they'd been using.</p><p>"Rain seems to be coming along," Sirius told her as he handed her a book.</p><p>"She definitely showed improvement tonight. I hope it sticks with her."</p><p>Sirius thought about his words wisely before telling her, "Do you think you'll be talking with them about the current situation any time soon?"</p><p>"The current situation?"</p><p>"Yes. You know… About the idea of taking them in?"</p><p>The woman nodded, "Yes, but I feel like it's better if I use the word 'adopt'."</p><p>"Minerva, McGonagall."</p><p>She rolled her eyes, "What?"</p><p>"I don't believe it. Are you telling me that you intend to become their mother?" Sirius asked her with a satisfied grin on his face.</p><p>The woman handed him the stack of objects she was holding and said, "Not a word about this to any of them, Sirius. The ministry isn't even fully operational yet, so they won't be able to send anyone out to meet with me until the end of the week."</p><p>"Does Severus know about this?"</p><p>"No. I was planning to talk with the two of you before my meeting with the people in charge of the new department for adoptions."</p><p>"Is that really what they're calling it? Department for Adoptions?"</p><p>Minerva replied, "Of course not. They don't have an official name yet. The only reason I even know about it is because Dumbledore was informed of its existence when he inquired about the children."</p><p>"So no one else knows?"</p><p>"Not to my knowledge. Although, I'm sure news is getting around by now. You can't keep something like that a secret for long." Minerva yawned and asked Sirius, "Do you mind finishing up here? I need to go make sure the children are in bed."</p><p>"Of course."</p><p>With that, Sirius walked down the stairs to put away the various dishes, books, decorative items, and other inanimate objects that had been used in their exercises. He could hear Minerva checking in on each student, stopping to tuck them into bed. She descended the stairs a short time later and waited for him to put the last item away so that they could go to bed together. Every light in the house was turned off, except the one above the kitchen that helped the students see their way down the stairs and to the bathrooms.</p><p>Sirius opened the front door to join Lupin and the students as they ran around playing wizard tag, when he was stopped by the sight of Hermione Granger and Harry Potter approaching the house. "Minnie, come out here, you're going to want to see this!" He called out over his shoulder as he ran out to greet the pair with a hug.</p><p>"Harry! Hermione!" Lupin called out as he made his way over to where his friend had stopped them.</p><p>Liam, who was looking on with the rest of the students, asked, "Who are they?"</p><p>"That's got to be Harry Potter," Sadie told him.</p><p>Liam looked at her in confusion, "How could you possibly know that?"</p><p>"I read the paper. Mostly for the pictures, but he's in there all the time."</p><p>"Must be some kind of big shot," Preston interjected.</p><p>Before anyone else could utter another word, Sirius called out, "Hey you guys, come here."</p><p>The six students stampeded out of the trees and ran to where Lupin and Sirius were standing, just in time for Minerva to step out of the house and see her favorite students meeting the new ones she was planning to adopt. Neither Harry nor Hermione knew what to do with the sudden rush of first years that raced to meet them. It didn't seem that long ago that they were stepping off the train for the first time themselves.</p><p>"Harry. Hermione." Minerva said as she walked through the small crowd and wrapped her arms around them. "What are the two of you doing here?"</p><p>"Oh, um… No one told you?" Hermione asked.</p><p>"Told me what?"</p><p>"Harry is leading the new department at the Ministry of Magic while I'm finishing school.. We came to talk to you about-"</p><p>"Ah, yes, follow me," Minerva interrupted before she could spoil the secret.</p><p>As they walked into the house, Harry said, "Dumbledore told us you had to move all the way out here because there was an issue between them and another group of students?"</p><p>Snape appeared at the top of the balcony and admitted, "Some of the students in my house got a little rough."</p><p>"Violent is more like it," Sirius argued. "These bullies managed to send them to the medical wing of Hogwarts on more than a few occasions."</p><p>"Yes, but let's be honest, they've managed to do that themselves quite a bit as well."</p><p>Minerva shot a look at the professor as he joined them at the dining table, "That doesn't-"</p><p>"I'm not excusing them, Minerva. I am simply adding to the details of their situation." He took a seat to the left of her and directly across from Sirius, "If I'm being honest, I admire their zest for life."</p><p>Harry smirked, leaning back, "What zest would that be, Professor?"</p><p>"You saw what they were doing as you walked in. That's what they do with their down time, if they're told not to go too far from the house. If they aren't outside playing, they're inside studying. Personally, the only slight I have with any of them is the fact that they don't all push themselves to be better."</p><p>"So you think they have potential for greatness?" Hermione questioned.</p><p>The professor let out a sigh before admitting, "I think there's a reason they somehow came to be in our care and I would appreciate it if they all started taking things more seriously."</p><p>McGonagall turned towards him, slamming her hands on the table, "If you're talking about Rain, I'll have you know she tries just as hard as the rest of them. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses." She turned to them and explained, "She's had some difficulty getting the hang of using her wand, that's all. We're working with her on it."</p><p>"The other students said she had something called autism." Sirius added. "We don't know if that's making it difficult for her to learn, or if there's something else going on. Frankly, we weren't even told if they're muggleborn or not."</p><p>Harry nodded, "Actually, that's the first thing I wanted to clear up. It would seem as though we don't know their blood status. We can't find their birth records, so we aren't even sure who their parents are or were."</p><p>"Do you happen to know when they were born?" Hermione asked Minerva.</p><p>The woman seemed a bit flustered, "Well, Liam, he's the eldest out of all of them, he was eleven when he got here. He said he was born on the first of August, I believe. Rain's birthday is the twenty-first of September and Sadie's is the twenty-fourth."</p><p>Hermione looked up from the notepad she was writing on, "They were both born in September then?"</p><p>"Yes." Minerva confirmed.</p><p>"Alright. So the other three?"</p><p>"Preston was born on the first of November. Ash was born on the twentieth of December and Emmett was born on the twenty-third. Mind you, the birth years are all over the place, Liam said he was born in 1988, which sounds reasonable, but Ash and Emmett were supposedly born in 1997."</p><p>"What about their parents? Have they ever mentioned either of them having magical abilities?" Hermione asked the trio.</p><p>The three of them shook their heads at each other and Minerva confirmed, "No. They have no memory of their parents, or their lives at all before Hogwarts."</p><p>Harry offered a weak smile and said, "Alright, well, how about their life here? I can see you made sure they were hidden far from the castle. Are they doing better out here?"</p><p>Minerva gave him a relieved nod, "Oh yes. As much as I would like them to be able to enjoy Hogwarts, I prefer not having to worry about them dying by the hands of other students."</p><p>Hermione wrote on her notepad, then asked, "Do you get adequate help when it comes to looking after them? I mean, six children born within a few months of each other can't be easy."</p><p>"Of course, Miss Granger. Professors Snape, Sirius, Lupin, and Hagrid are always ready to help. Even Molly Weasley let me know she would be willing to look after them on occasion."</p><p>"Well, I'm sure they'll be in good hands either way." The older student made a note of something before asking, "Why are you wanting to adopt them?"</p><p>Snape interrupted, "I'm sorry, but if I'm not needed any further for this process, I think I need to go out and help Lupin."</p><p>They all turned to see Lupin yelling up a tree and no students in sight. Harry collected his signature on a document before letting him go. As he ran out the door, Minerva turned her attention back to the pair sitting at the opposite side of the table. Sirius, however, found it hard to compose himself as he watched Lupin and Snape struggle to get everyone out of the tree. Pulling out his wand, Snape pointed it upward, but immediately looked down as he struggled to move his feet. Within a few seconds, two brooms with students on them shot out of the treetops.</p><p>As he let out a laugh, Minerva asked, "Do you find something amusing, Sirius?"</p><p>He put up his hands in surrender, "Not my circus, not my monkeys." He turned his attention back to the conversation and asked, "Now where were we?"</p><p>"The process of adoption," Hermione reminded him. "We don't know how smoothly this process can go, because we have never done this, so I'm sorry if there's any bumps along the way. As of right now, once you sign this document, we will send it to the proper muggle representatives. You will have a few meetings and even surprise visits from them to ensure the children are safe with you."</p><p>"They're coming here?"</p><p>"Oh no, Professor. We have a home set up for you in Dufftown. Once we receive word that the document has been received, you and the children will need to stay there until the visit has concluded, then you may return here."</p><p>"So will American and Scottish authorities be showing up?"</p><p>"American authorities? Why would the Americans show up?" Hermione asked her.</p><p>McGonagall looked confused, "I thought that since they are Americans, they would want to have a say on things."</p><p>"Um, no. Did they tell you that?"</p><p>"They aren't?" Sirius questioned, concerned that there was some sort of issue.</p><p>Hermione let out a nervous chuckle, "Well, we dug a bit deeper and it would appear they are not American."</p><p>Minerva looked baffled, "Then how do you explain their accents?"</p><p>Harry shrugged, "The only records we have of them are here at the school. As far as we are concerned, they're Scottish."</p><p>Hermione got them back on track, "They will have a couple of people from a local office stop by sometime after the holidays. With today being Friday and Christmas Eve, we won't be able to get anything sent out until Monday and likely won't be hearing back until after school resumes."</p><p>Minerva took the quill that Hermione handed her and signed her name at the bottom of the document. She slid the paper over to Sirius who signed his name as well, before handing it to Harry. The four had a short conversation about the holidays before they all got up to walk outside.</p><p>Harry got quiet as he thought of the best way to ask his final question. "Professor, this isn't part of our inquiry, more of a question of personal concern. Do you feel they're safe from the Death Eaters out here?"</p><p>Minerva's heart began to race, "The Death Eaters? Why would they need to be safe from-"</p><p>"Professor, I don't want to worry you. The Death Eaters aren't gone for good, they've just had to go underground for a while. News of Ronan Selwyn taking charge of-"</p><p>Sirius cut him off, "Did you say Ronan Selwyn?"</p><p>"Yes, we have it on good authority-"</p><p>"Penelope Selwyn is the student that has been terrorizing the children," Minerva told him.</p><p>Harry looked at Hermione, disturbed by the new development, "I think we need to make another stop by Dumbledore's office before I leave. I hate to rush the goodbye's, but we really need to get going."</p><p>Minerva, who was now just as uneasy as Harry, gave her former student a hug just before they rushed off back to the castle. She stood in the doorway and watched as the now tamed students ran through the trees and across the clearing, shooting orbs of light at one another. The idea that Penelope and her group of friends were Death Eaters made sense, but also made what had happened at the castle more disturbing. The idea sent a shiver down her spine.</p><p>"Are you okay?" Sirius asked her.</p><p>"I'm not sure."</p><p>"It's Christmas!" Sadie shouted as she ran down the stairs.</p><p>She'd been the first student awake and the only one that had made an appearance to the professors that were sitting around the fireplace that had a stocking hanging in front of it for each of them. Behind the couch, in place of the study table, sat a fully decorated Christmas tree with dozens of gifts under it. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs to marvel it at. The sound of her friends running across the floor to the staircase caught her attention and she moved out of the way.</p><p>"When did we get a tree?" Rain asked as she stopped in the same place Sadie had.</p><p>Preston pushed past her, "Fuck the tree. Where did all these gifts come from?"</p><p>"Preston, careful," Sirius warned.</p><p>Minerva touched his arm, "It's Christmas. I'm not worried about it today."</p><p>"Minnie, I've never heard you use Christmas as an excuse for bad behavior before. Are these kids rubbing off on you?" Severus joked.</p><p>Sirius gave him an odd look, "Did you just poke fun?"</p><p>Snape shrugged, "It's Christmas."</p><p>"Can we open our stockings?" Emmett requested.</p><p>"Of course," Minerva told him as she stepped aside to let everyone get by.</p><p>The children sat on the floor as they emptied the contents of their stockings. Each of them had been given a mix of muggle and wizard sweets. The professors had given them the typical Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, chocolate frogs, and a small box of unmarked sweets. What caught them off guard was the fact that along with the typical chocolates and candies you would expect a wizard to receive, Minerva, Snape, Sirius, and Lupin had gone to the trouble of getting them muggle sweets like Baby Bottle Pops, Warheads, Airheads, Pixie Stix, caramel apple suckers, Reese's, Nerds, and even gummy food.</p><p>"How did you get all this stuff?" Emmett asked.</p><p>Lupin proudly told them, "We read up on what candy muggle children like to eat."</p><p>"We thought you might like a bit of normality before things change around here," Sirius added.</p><p>"Change?" The students said simultaneously.</p><p>Minerva sighed, "Alright, I've kept this a secret long enough." She sat on the couch and explained, "I've been thinking about this for awhile. I didn't know if it was something I really wanted to do, because we weren't sure if we would be able to find your families or not. Dumbledore told me the Ministry can't seem to find where you came from. Harry Potter confirmed that they have no record of you six before you got your letters."</p><p>"So we don't exist?" Rain asked.</p><p>"Shhh!" Sadie shushed her, "Let her talk."</p><p>Minerva continued, "That is a complicated question. The only answer we have right now is that you just seemed to appear out of thin air. We don't know where you came from or who your families are. Essentially, you're all orphans." She paused and let the news sink in. "However, that means you can all be adopted. After the new year, we'll all be traveling to a city nearby and will be living there while someone from the Scottish foster care system stops by to meet with us."</p><p>Preston inquired, "So we're being adopted?"</p><p>"It would appear so," Minerva responded nervously.</p><p>"Wait, does this mean we're being split up?" Rain asked.</p><p>"I refuse," Emmett protested.</p><p>Liam agreed, "I do too. I'm not going anywhere."</p><p>Sadie shouted, "I will permanently stick myself to someone or something if I have to!"</p><p>Minerva put her hands up and motioned for everyone to calm down, "You're not being split up. I would never allow that to happen to you."</p><p>"Good!" Sadie told her. "We wouldn't go anyway. At least not willingly."</p><p>The professor took a breath and exhaled to calm her nerves, "It would seem that, if everything goes accordingly, that all six of you will be siblings."</p><p>"Is this a joke?" Ash asked.</p><p>Liam sarcastically remarked, "Ha-ha. Very funny."</p><p>"This better not be a joke," Emmett warned.</p><p>"If it is I'm going up to that castle and taking my anger out on Penelope and her stupid little friends," stated Preston.</p><p>Rain interjected, "This isn't funny if it's a joke."</p><p>Sadie stopped everyone as she saw Minerva get misty eyed and Sirius, Snape, and Lupin's expressions get serious. "Guys, you're being really mean."</p><p>"I'm not joking," Minerva responded. She tried to control her breathing as she anxiously told them, "If things go well while we're away, I'll be adopting you. All six of you. Dumbledore and I talked earlier in the week. He hinted at this a little while ago, but I wasn't sure if I could take care of all of you or keep you safe."</p><p>Rain said in a hushed tone, "But you do."</p><p>"Thank you, Rain, but we're still having to learn about each other and I'm still getting used to managing a household."</p><p>Sirius interrupted to say, "For what it's worth, I think things have gone about as smoothly as you could expect with a group of eleven year olds that have been hiked out into the woods to learn how to use their magical abilities while simultaneously being hunted by a bunch of bullies."</p><p>Sadie raised her hand and asked, "Does this mean it won't be weird if I accidentally call you mom?"</p><p>Sirius whispered, "Please say no. I find the MomGonagall nickname to be adorable."</p><p>"Yes Sadie, outside of class, you call me whatever you'd like."</p><p>"Rad!"</p><p>Minerva stood up and asked, "Alright, well who's ready for breakfast?"</p><p>"Are we doing that weird breakfast thing you were talking about?" Preston asked.</p><p>The professor nodded, "If you want to try a full Scottish breakfast, then yes."</p><p>"I'm down."</p><p>The living room was a mess. Wrapping paper was strewn all over the place, empty boxes were placed wherever there was room, and the children had a ribbon fight that left it tasseled from the couches all the way into the loft. One of the premade ribbons that Minerva had stuck to a package was now adorning the railing of the balcony and three more were placed on the heads of each male professor.</p><p>"Do you remember when you teased Minnie for letting them get away with their bad behavior because it's Christmas?" Sirius asked Snape.</p><p>"Regrettably, yes."</p><p>"How are you feeling now?"</p><p>"Did you hear the first part of my answer? Regretful."</p><p>Lupin grinned at the other two adults in the room and admitted, "I rather enjoyed today."</p><p>Sirius looked over his right shoulder to look out the window in the front door and told him, "It was fun for a while. I'm glad she's watching them for now, though. Where should we start with the cleaning?"</p><p>Lupin stood up, "I'll go upstairs and toss everything down. One of you can get that back hallway by the bathrooms."</p><p>Sirius raised his hand, "I'll clean up in here if you take the back hall, Severus?"</p><p>"Of course," Snape droned.</p><p>Outside the house, Minerva was watching as the children played around in the forest. She enjoyed seeing them have fun, but she didn't want them to completely destroy the inside of the house. As the children ran through the trees, she turned her attention back to the house to see if the guys were still kicked back on the couch. Sirius and Lupin were talking to one another, Snape made an appearance to drop an armload of paper and ribbon onto the counter top, then disappeared through the hidden door that led into their storeroom.</p><p>The three of them were almost done cleaning up the holiday mess and it looked as if Minerva would be able to corral the children back inside so she could get dinner ready when a dark figure in the sky caught the woman's attention. She turned to see three Dementors flying in a circle above the forest. A shot of adrenaline ran through her body as she called for everyone to get inside the house.</p><p>The students got to the treeline and saw the dark figures, prompting Rain to ask, "What are those?"</p><p>"They are De-," Minerva's breath caught in her throat as three, then four, then five more Dementors joined the other three.</p><p>"Kids, come inside!" Remus shouted from the front door as he ran out to where Minerva was standing.</p><p>Snape waited until all six of the students were inside the house and standing in front of him before telling them, "Go into the storeroom and stay there until one of us comes to get you."</p><p>Sirius, who had left through the secret door in the back of the store room, ran around the right side of the house to join Minerva and Lupin in the middle of the clearing. Snape shut and charmed the door to alert them if anyone opened it before making his way to the same spot. All four professors stood and watched as the creatures flew in a circle, one of two of them dipping down into the treetops from time to time.</p><p>"What do you think they're doing here?" Lupin asked.</p><p>Minerva anxiously responded, "No matter the reason for them being here, their presence is enough to tell me that something is wrong."</p><p>Sirius told them, "There is supposed to be a snowstorm tonight, so that will keep them indoors for a bit."</p><p>"And when it ends?"</p><p>"We will have to make sure they don't leave the house," Snape said.</p><p>Minerva sighed, "We have less than two weeks until we leave for Dufftown. I need to go speak with Dumbledore and find out what is going on."</p><p>"We should probably get back inside until we know why they're here," Lupin told them.</p><p>As they walked back, Sirius argued, "I think it would be best if I went to speak with Dumbledore."</p><p>"No, I don't-"</p><p>"Minnie, the kids are going to take you more seriously."</p><p>Minerva closed the door behind them as they walked in and submitted, "Alright then. You go talk with Dumbledore, I'll stay here and keep them occupied."</p><p>Sirius walked into the living room where Minerva was sitting with her students and leaned against the back of the couch. Lupin and Severus were up in the loft discussing plans on how to get out of the forest with the Dementors right outside. On the floor and directly in front of the fireplace, Emmett, Preston, Ash, and Liam snacked on some of their candy while Sadie sat directly behind Ash, braiding her hair. Minerva had sat down in the middle of the sofa, to the left of where Rain was sitting and reading her book.</p><p>"There you go, all done!" Sadie said as she tied off the braid.</p><p>Preston looked up from his pile of candy and asked, "Hey, Professor, what are these things?"</p><p>Minerva smiled at the box of Every Flavour Beans and told him, "They are a chewy candy with a thin hard shell."</p><p>"They look like Jelly Bellys," Rain commented.</p><p>Preston threw one up in the air and caught it in his mouth, immediately spitting it out after a few chews, "That tasted like soap!"</p><p>Sadie crawled across the sofa and grabbed her stocking from the corner before sitting next to Minerva and digging for her box of the bean shaped candies. After finding it she opened up the lid and blindly chose one of the beans to eat. Rain leaned forward just enough to see her friend on the other side of the professor. Sadie plopped the candy into her mouth and began to chew, waiting for the flavor to hit her taste buds.</p><p>"Mmmm! Pumpkin!" Sadie turned to Minerva, "McGonagall, do you want a," she shook the box, "bean?"</p><p>Minerva giggled as she put her hand up and pushed the box back, "No thank you, Sadie."</p><p>Preston got up and walked into the kitchen, opened up the fridge and looked for something to get the taste of soap out of his mouth. The top shelf didn't have any juice or milk, the second shelf only had jars of various liquids, the bottom shelf only ever had food, as did the drawers. He was desperate for some relief and turned his gaze back to the second shelf. Grabbing the first jar without reading the label, he unscrewed the lid, and lifted it to his lips.</p><p>"Sirius," Minerva calmly said.</p><p>Sirius turned to walk toward Preston, "I'm on it."</p><p>He walked up to Preston and in one swift move, took the jar, it's lid, and closed it before putting it back in the fridge. "No!" Preston whined as he reached up to try and take it back.</p><p>"What are you doing?"</p><p>"I need to get this taste out of my mouth!"</p><p>Sirius sighed, "Go get the pomegranate juice from the storeroom, you buzzard brain."</p><p>As Preston slinked into the hidden room, Emmett chose a bean and ate it. Vanilla ice cream. Ash, Liam, and Rain followed up, all of whom were surprised with pleasant flavors. When Preston got back, he sat down and tried yet another bean. This time he was happy to have the taste of peaches fill his mouth. Relieved, he relaxed as he watched the rest of his friends try theirs.</p><p>Rain promptly spit hers out into her hand and ran to the kitchen where Sirius was getting ready to drink a glass of water he'd poured for himself. Without hesitation, the young girl flicked the earwax flavored candy into the sink and took the glass of water from the professor, drinking almost all of it. She handed it back to him and returned to her spot on the couch, this time sitting straight up and sitting with her stocking in her lap. Sirius followed her back and stood to watch Sadie eat another bean.</p><p>Sadie's face contorted as she promptly spit it onto the floor, voicing her disdain for what she'd just tried to eat. "It tastes like vomit!" She shouted.</p><p>Sirius chuckled. "Yeah I hate those, they're the worst."</p><p>"Who even made these!" She whined, "Jelly beans are supposed to be fun! This isn't fun! Christmas is canceled!" She dramatically laid across McGonagall's lap, put her hand over her forehead, and said, "I'm never going to eat jelly beans again!"</p><p>Preston walked over and handed her the bottle of pomegranate juice, "Drink this. It'll help."</p><p>"My hero." Sadie whimpered before she took a large drink and handed it back to her friend.</p><p>Sirius walked over and picked the girl up, sitting down and putting her in his lap. He put an arm across the back of the couch where Minerva sat and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. The students continued to eat their Every Flavour Beans, including Sadie. At one point Snape and Lupin even joined in on the fun. Before any of them knew it, the blizzard outside had picked up so much that there was nothing but a veil of white where they would normally be seeing the night sky and forest several feet away.</p><p>As the storm outside raged, the students and professors continued their night of fun. Eight o'clock came and went with Ash, Sadie, Preston, and Liam still eating candy. Sadie had moved from Sirius's lap and onto the floor to trade with her friends, sitting where Emmett had been until he went upstairs and went to bed. Rain had fallen asleep shortly after they stopped eating the Every Flavour Beans. She had been resting against Minerva's right side while she read a book about plants and their magical properties. No one had noticed she was sleeping yet.</p><p>"Man, if it keeps snowing like this, we'll be able to build snow forts and have a huge snowball fight," Preston said as he looked out the windows to his right.</p><p>Sadie commented, "If we can even go outside. At this rate, the snow isn't going to stop and we'll just be stuck in here forever!"</p><p>"I think it would be best if we all stayed in tomorrow."</p><p>"But why?" Ash inquired.</p><p>The professors looked around the room at each other, then Sirius explained, "Do you remember when we told you to come inside earlier?"</p><p>Preston replied, "Yeah, what was that about?"</p><p>"While you were outside, a group of Dementors had shown up and were circling above the forest."</p><p>"And what on earth is a Dementor?" Sadie asked him.</p><p>Snape jumped into the conversation, "Dementors are dark, soul sucking creatures that will target anything with a pulse. They will make you wish you were dead by the time they are done with you."</p><p>Minerva reprimanded him, "Severus, there's no need to scare them."</p><p>"Well, the only one that would show any fear is sound asleep next to you."</p><p>"That's quite enough," Minerva told him with a hint of contempt in her eyes.</p><p>Lupin looked at the students in front of him and said, "I do not want to scare you, but they are foul creatures. If you get too close they will take every last happy memory you have and leave you in a dark, cold shell. What professor Snape said is true, but you must know that we don't let that happen to you."</p><p>Sadie asked him, "These things live in the forest?"</p><p>"Not typically." Sirius told her. "They used to guard Azkaban, a prison for wizards. After the war, they were banished and it would appear as though someone is using them to do their bidding."</p><p>"How do you know that?"</p><p>"Because they wouldn't be here at Hogwarts unless they were told to."</p><p>Liam responded in a hushed tone, "So they're hunting someone?"</p><p>Minerva regretfully replied, "Yes. As unfortunate as it is, it would seem as though they've been sent to find someone."</p><p>"I bet you anything it's that bitch Penelope," Preston thought out loud.</p><p>"Preston, watch your language." She paused to make sure she hadn't woken up Rain. "Penelope couldn't possibly employ them, she doesn't hold that kind of power."</p><p>"So, wait, there's more people after us?"</p><p>Lupin stopped him, "They may not even be here for you."</p><p>"But they're in the forest."</p><p>"And there are many creatures here that they can feed off of. We don't know who they're here for."</p><p>Minerva reiterated, "No matter who they're here for, we won't let anything happen to any of you, okay?"</p><p>The students nodded back at her. Sirius moved the conversation along to something more pleasant so that the children could get back to their fun and the adults could focus on something else. Snape, now bored with the conversation, left after a few minutes and went to bed. Preston disappeared upstairs for a short period of time, returning with a slightly irritated Emmett. The half asleep, but upset student voiced his concern about what was going on before settling back down with his friends and chatting with them. The three adults that were still awake did their best to keep the student's minds off of what was going on, but they could tell the news of Dementors had disturbed them.</p><p>Fortunately the bad news was shortly lived as all six students drifted off wherever they had been lounging while talking. Rain was still curled up against Minerva in the corner of the couch that was closest to the kitchen, Ash fell asleep while sitting in front of Minerva, Sadie was sleeping between Sirius and Minerva, while Emmett slept on the other side of Sirius with his head in the corner, while Preston and Liam slept at the ends of either side of the sectional. Minerva continued to run her hands through Ash's hair, long after the girl had fallen asleep. Seeing how late it was getting, Lupin made his way to his room and got ready for bed.</p><p>"Shall we wake them up and get them to bed?" Sirius asked.</p><p>Minerva shook her head, "Just help me get Sadie and Rain moved over for enough so we can get Ash up here too."</p><p>Sirius got up as quietly as possible, doing his best to pick up Sadie and move her to the same side of the couch as Rain. Once he was sure she wouldn't roll off the couch, he bent down and picked Ash up, setting her in the same place Sadie had been sleeping. It was then that Minerva got up from where she was, carefully lowering Rain down onto the cushion. Lupin emerged just as they were done, holding an arm full of blankets, ready to help tuck everyone in. Nearly the whole house was fast asleep, all anyone could hear was the sound of the wind whipping through the clearing outside. They could only hope the snow storm provided an extra barrier between them and the Dementors.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter Eight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The air was getting colder as the six first year students sat, huddled in the corner of the storeroom, wands out and ready to fight. McGonagall and Lupin had left earlier that morning to find the car. It’s whereabouts were never known, it always just seemed to show up whenever they needed it. This time, however, it was nowhere to be seen. Sirius, worried for their safety, took off into the woods to find them after an hour of waiting. Snape needed to wrap up some last minute business and left for the castle through the floo system only moments ago.</p><p>	Almost as if they’d been waiting for the adults to leave, the Dementors started circling the house the second the students were alone. None of them knew how to fend them off, nor did they know if they could even be sensed. Their knowledge of the beings was limited to what was told to them over a week ago at Christmas time. Shards of ice forming on the windows of the house didn’t seem like a good omen and they all promptly made their way into the secret room. It was the only place they were ever told to hide, so it made sense to them.</p><p>	Rain was still completely unaware of what was happening, as no one bothered to wake her up the night that everything was explained to them, so she was asking her friends for answers. No one could give full responses to her questions, so they each took turns on passing along what they knew, as best they could. Just as they were trying to get her to understand they didn’t know enough about Dementors to give her the detailed information she was hoping for, a cloaked figure made an appearance. All six children let out blood curdling screams as the wraith-like being floated toward them.</p><p>	“Expecto Patronum!” A female voice shouted from the other side of the specter.</p><p>	It flew to the left and out the back door, revealing Hermione standing in the doorway and Professor Snape standing behind her. She stepped forward and turned to face the doorway, while Snape ran out the back door to make sure the Dementor was gone. The younger students stayed where they were as they waited for the professor to come back and tell them the coast was clear. The older student glanced over her shoulder at the door on the opposite side of the room from time to time, hoping Snape would make an appearance again.</p><p>	“They’re gone!” His voice echoed from the living room. As they all slowly walked out into the main area of the house, Snape said, “I’ll cast a warming charm. Miss Ganger, can you help them gather their belongings? Just leave it all by the dinner table. I need to go find the others.”</p><p>“No! Don’t go!” Sadie protested as she ran over and threw her arms around him.</p><p>Preston looked at her with a hint of disbelief, “Are you kidding me? This girl is the one who saved us and you’re begging him to stay?”</p><p>Hermione stood between the two sides and told the other students, “Can you please do as the professor says and get your bags?” The second they were out of earshot, she told Snape, “I can go track down the professors. I think Professor McGonagall would rather I be the one to leave.”</p><p>Snape looked down at her, “I will place more charms before leaving. If you get lost or hurt, she will be just as upset with me.”</p><p>	“Professor, with all due respect,” The sight of the little car driving by the windows caused a smile to spread across Hermione’s face, “I don’t think we need to worry about that anymore. They’re here.”</p><p>	Without missing a beat, Minerva hurried out of the car as it came to a complete stop. She bustled into the house and asked, “Where are they? Are they alright?”</p><p>	Hermione nodded, “They’re getting their things.”</p><p>	The woman covered her heart with her right hand and she sighed in relief, “These children will be the death of me.” She looked at Hermione and asked, “When did you get here, my dear?”</p><p>	“Just a little bit ago. I was talking with Professor Snape when he told me he needed me to come back with him and-”</p><p>	“Come back?” Minerva looked at Severus.</p><p>	He side eyed the student before admitting, “I needed to leave them for a short time and make sure everything was in place for my substitute.”</p><p>	“You left them alone? Severus, something horrible could have happened to them.”</p><p>	“Yet they are perfectly fine.”</p><p>	Sadie shouted from the balcony, “Speak for yourself! I happen to be scarred for life!”</p><p>	Snape groaned at her, “Miss Bell, we have no time for theatrics, bring down your bags.”</p><p>	“I almost died!” She shouted as she descended the staircase.</p><p>	Minerva reassured her, “They can not kill, Sadie.”</p><p>	Preston appeared at the top of the stairs and told her, “They can only maim or seriously injure.”</p><p>	“Easy for you to say, you were in the very back!”</p><p>	Sadie dropped her suitcase beside the dining table as Preston followed behind her, lifting his onto one of the barstools. They all stood and waited as the rest of the students came down with their belongings. They didn’t have much time to leave before another attempt would be made, so Lupin hurried them along, letting the adults know the Dementors were circling again and getting ready to swoop in at any moment and rip away any happiness they may have had.</p><p>	Hermione announced, “I know the original plan was to have you go to a house in Dufftown, but we’ve had to alter the plans and we’re going to be taking you to Inverness instead.”</p><p>	“Inverness?” Minerva questioned.</p><p>	“I know, Professor. It’s ideal, but we don’t have many options right now.”</p><p>	The professor nodded, “It’s not the town I have a problem with, Miss Granger, it’s the distance.” She paused and thought about it. “I suppose I can manage while we get things sorted.” She turned toward her students and told them, “Give your things to Professor Lupin, the get in the car. Come on now, one at a time.”</p><p>	Ash was the first person to have her things to the car, followed by Preston, then Liam. The three of them hunkered down in the back seat as Sadie made her way over with hers. Lupin took the suitcase and carefully placed it in the trunk. Sirius had been bringing out everything Minerva packed for their time away as the students found their places in the vehicle. Emmett all but ran out the door and took a seat with his friends, while Rain took a little longer. Minerva had almost forgotten about her until Lupin let her know that her luggage hadn’t made it. She turned to yell up at Rain, but was caught off guard when she discovered the young girls standing at the bottom of the staircase.</p><p>	“Will we come back?” She asked the professor.</p><p>	Minerva nodded, “As soon as we can.”</p><p>	Rain looked back at the top of the stairs, then made her way out of the home and to the car where everyone was waiting. Minerva immediately climbed into the back of the car with the children, making sure there was enough room on the end for the last of the students. However, Rain opted to sit on the floor, facing everyone in the back. Lupin sat in the driver’s seat as Hermione, Severus, and Sirius crawled into the front from the passenger side. The engine let out a roar as they drove off into the forest.</p><p>	The canopy of trees above them blocked out most of the sun, but there was just enough light for everyone to see the Dementors chasing after their vehicle. Lupin was driving as quickly as he could, given that they were driving over and under large roots, vines, and having to avoid large dips in the ground that the tires would get stuck in. Ice began to form on the windows as the Dementors honed in on the car, forcing Hermione to lean forward and hurt the heater on. It did almost nothing and Sirius rolled down the window, pointing his wand and shouting the incantation for the patronus charm. The windows almost immediately cleared up and Lupin could see his way through the forest again.</p><p>	“I think we need to go up,” Lupin announced.</p><p>	“Oh, you think so, do you?” Minerva asked him with as much sarcasm as she could muster.</p><p>	“Up we go!” He shouted as he shifted into the appropriate gear to fly.</p><p>	Rain was flung toward the back of the car as they shot straight up into the air. Minerva put her arm out to soften the blow, but there was very little she could do to stop her from colliding into the other students. There was a small thud from someone’s head hitting the window and multiple yelps from the impact. Once they were in the clouds the car leveled out and Rain was tossed flat onto the floor in the middle of where everyone was sitting.</p><p>	“I hate this car,” Rain muttered under her breath as she got up and crawled back to her spot.</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	The journey to Inverness had been a much longer and more complicated one than they had anticipated. A journey that should have only taken them a couple of hours at the most, turned into a nine hour tour through the Scottish highlands while they tried to lose any trace of the Dementors, only stopping a handful of times to stretch their legs and relieve themselves. By the time they’d been given the okay to travel home, they were hours away and didn’t pull into the drive until a quarter past midnight, all six children sleeping in the backseat.</p><p>	Sirius,  Hermione, Lupin, and Severus were the first ones out of the car. Hermione went into the house to talk with Harry, only to be surprised by Neville Longbottom. Dumbledore had sent him with Harry once news of the Dementor attack had reached him. The three of them exchanged updates while three of the professors brought the luggage inside. Each of them popped their head into the kitchen for a quick hello, Snape seeming less enthusiastic about having another body in the house. Outside in the car, Minerva waited for everything to be taken in before waking the students up and herding them inside. The sight of another former student who’d fought with her at Hogwarts was a pleasant surprise.</p><p>Introductions were made almost immediately while Snape shut the front door and turned the dead bolt to lock. The newer students were excited to be meeting someone new, even though it was under less than thrilling circumstances. Once everyone had been given an opportunity to visit for a short time, Harry took everyone upstairs and showed them to their rooms. The top of the staircase revealed a hallway with three doors on each side and one at the end. On the right hand side the first two doors led to bathrooms for the students, the last door was to the master suite for Minerva, Sirius, and Snape. On the left sat Neville and Lupin’s room, the girl’s room, and the boy’s room. The single door at the end of the hall was another bathroom.</p><p>Harry, Hermione, and Neville helped the professors get the younger students settled in before making their way out to Harry’s car. Hermione had to be back at Hogwarts for classes in the morning and the two former students had their business to tend to at the school, so they offered to take her back. Sirius made sure they got to their vehicle safely before joining Snape, Lupin, and Minerva in the kitchen.</p><p>	“Well tonight has been quite the adventure,” Minerva said as Sirius walked into the room.</p><p>	Lupin nodded as he leaned against the counter behind him, “It did not go at all how I imagined, but I rather enjoyed myself at times.”</p><p>	“Thankfully Hermione was there,” Sirius pointed out.</p><p>	The room got quiet as the four of them stood and looked at one another. None of them really knew what to say, because their life suddenly seemed so strange in comparison to where they all were a few months ago. Rather than force conversation, they all turned in for the evening. Minerva stopped on her way to bed to check on the students, finding all of them fast asleep. The exhaustion and stress of the day hit her as she turned the doorknob to her room and she flopped onto the bed. She had to be up in five hours to get the house ready for the social worker that was supposed to show up in the morning. It was going to be a long day tomorrow.</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	Everyone sat around the dining room table, coming up with their background story for the social worker who would be arriving soon. The truth about who they were to each other would certainly draw too much attention, so they needed a new and passable story of how they all fit together. Of course, this meant that Minerva couldn’t have two lovers and be living with three random men.</p><p>	“I’ve got it!” Preston shouted. “Neville is Snape’s nephew.”</p><p>	Sadie gave him a strange look, “Why?”</p><p>	“Because Snape’s brother died.”</p><p>	Snape groaned, “I don’t have a brother.”</p><p>	“Not anymore!” Sadie interjected, “He’s DEAD!”</p><p>	“I know you don’t, but we can tell the social worker that you did and he’s dead,” Preston rolled over Sadie’s remark.</p><p>	Ash suggested, “Why not just have him be Snape’s son? Cut out the brother story.”</p><p>	“I don’t want to be his son,” Neville spoke up from the corner of the room.</p><p>	Snape side eyed his former student, “And I don’t want to be your father.”</p><p>	“No offense, Professor. I just don’t think she’d believe that I’m yours.”</p><p>	Rain threw out, “Why not just have Neville be Lupin’s son? That would be a more believable pairing. He spent more time with his mom, so that if the social worker asks them any personal questions about each other that they don’t know the answer to, they can say they’ve only just started to build their relationship.”</p><p>	Preston raised an eyebrow at her, “That could work.”</p><p>	“Is anyone else concerned that the little one is able to create false stories that quickly?” Snape asked.</p><p>	“Well excuse me for being creative,” Rain submitted as she leaned back against her chair.</p><p>	Minerva told her, “I think that’s a good idea. Now how do they fit in?”</p><p>	Preston snapped his fingers, “Lupin is Sirius’s brother.”</p><p>	Emmett continued, “And Sirius is McGonagall’s husband.”</p><p>	Sirius made a disapproving grunt.</p><p>	“Fiance?”</p><p>	A second grunt told him that still wasn’t what he was looking for.</p><p>	“Long term partner?”</p><p>	“I think that sounds believable,” Sirius confirmed, “So then would that make Snape my brother as well?”</p><p>	“I would rather not.” He immediately rejected the idea. “I will gladly take any other role.”</p><p>	Sadie shouted, “You could be our butler!”</p><p>	Minerva protested, “Absolutely not.”</p><p>	“I never get what I want,” Sadie sulked.</p><p>	The doorbell rang and Minerva said, “Neville, you are Remus Lupin’s son. Remus, you are Sirius Black’s younger brother. Severus Snape, you are their older brother. That’s the story we are going with, like it or not.”</p><p>	“Scatter!” Sadie said in a harsh whisper as she ran out of the dining room, through the kitchen and up the stairs in the hallway. Minerva calmly made her way to the front door as Preston and Emmett shot past her and followed Sadie. Rain and Ash followed behind her to get into the living room just off the hall, across from the bottom of the stairs. Lupin was following close behind them, but ducked into the door below the stairs that led into the basement. Snape decided to stay in the dining room, while Neville, Sirius, and Liam stood around in the kitchen.</p><p>	Minerva opened the door to reveal a tall, heavier set woman who was wearing a dark blue dress suit and carrying a matching briefcase. “Hello, you must be-”</p><p>	“I’m Bridgit Greer. You must be Minerva.” The woman stuck out her hand for Minerva to shake.</p><p>	“Yes,” Minerva responded, caught off guard by the woman’s sudden enthusiasm, “Please come in.”</p><p>	As she closed the door behind them, the woman asked, “So, while looking through the casefile, I noticed it says you are interested in adopting all six of the children you have been looking after?”</p><p>	Minerva directed her toward the living room, “Yes, that is correct.”</p><p>	As they walked into the room, Rain and Ash both looked up from the books they were reading. “Who are these two?” She asked in a sweet sounding voice.</p><p>	“The one sitting by the window is Rain, the one sitting near the bookshelf is Ash.”</p><p>	The woman made a few notes on a yellow notepad, then asked, “Where are the others?”</p><p>	“My eldest is in the kitchen and the rest of them are upstairs,” The professor responded.</p><p>	“Would it be possible for us to sit down somewhere and chat with everybody in the house?” The social worker asked as she turned and looked up the stairs.</p><p>	“Of course, we can sit in the dining room if you’d like.” As they walked by the stairs, Minerva shouted up, “Everyone, come to the dining room.”</p><p>	As they walked into the kitchen, Sirius said, “I’ll go get Lupin and Neville. I think they’re in the basement.”</p><p>	Minerva gestured for the social worker to sit down at the table while she went into the kitchen to get some tea for everyone. Snape watched the woman as she sat down at the head of the table, across from him. Before either of them could say anything, the group of children barged into the room, taking their seats around the table. Sirius, Lupin, and Neville each showed up just as Minerva was walking in with the serving tray of tea and biscuits. As she set it down on the table, she moved Rain out of the chair next to the social worker, then had the child sit on her lap.</p><p>	“I suppose I should start off by asking for everyone to go around the room and identify themselves.”</p><p>	“I’m Rain.”</p><p>	“Sadie.”</p><p>	“Ash.”</p><p>	“I’m Severus.”</p><p>	The woman’s smile faded as she replied, “Alright,” in a stern tone.</p><p>	“I’m Liam.”</p><p>	“Emmett.”</p><p>	“And I’m Preston.”</p><p>	The woman, who’d looked up from her notepad to nod and smile at each student, stopped when she locked eyes with Preston. No one said a thing as she looked around the room for anyone else to be as shocked as she was. She quickly dug the file out of her briefcase and looked it over, before calmly setting it off to the side and making a note of something.</p><p>	“You don’t get many black people in these parts, do you?” Preston finally asked.</p><p>	She stumbled, “I...Um, no. I just…”</p><p>	“It’s alright, it seems pretty weird to have a group full of white kids, then me,” He told her.</p><p>	Ash spoke up, “Hey! I’m not white.”</p><p>	“Okay, it’s weird to have a group of white kids, a Hispanic kid, and then me.”</p><p>	Minerva interjected, “Is there some sort of issue? Surely the color of his skin can’t be that odd to you?”</p><p>	The social worker looked in the direction of her file as she responded, “His skin color isn’t an issue at all, ma’am. I just didn’t know you were a multicultural family. My apologies, if I came off as rude.”</p><p>	Rain spoke up with a hint of anger in her voice, “Why would it even matter if we were a mixed family? He’s the only one you gave that reaction to.”</p><p>	Minerva wrapped an arm around Rain’s waist to keep her from standing up and used the other hand to pat her on the back, “It’s alright. Just a misunderstanding. Go on, Bridgit.”</p><p>	The woman nervously looked in the direction of the three men standing against the wall behind Snape, “And who might the three of you be?”</p><p>	“I’m Sirius.”</p><p>	“I’m Neville.”</p><p>	“I’m Remus.”</p><p>	Everyone watched as the stranger twinged at each of the names. She was writing much more than just their names. Rain did her best to read what was written, but all she could make out was the word ‘Fater’, which had been written up by Snape’s name. She assumed the woman had either misspelled ‘Father’ or ‘Fatter’. She stifled a giggle as she looked in Severus’s direction.</p><p>	“Okay, so let’s start with you, Minerval, you are wanting to adopt all six children?”</p><p>	“Yes, of course,” She responded.</p><p>	The woman made a note, then asked, “Now, I noticed Neville looks fairly young himself, is he your son?”</p><p>	Minerva shook her head, “He belongs to Remus.”</p><p>	“Alright, how do you know Minerva, Remus.”</p><p>	Lupin cleared his throat as he replied, “Minerva is my sister-in-law.”</p><p>	Sadie let out a gasp and the room went quiet. The girl said, “Sorry, I, uh, thought I saw a spider crawling on my leg. Nope. Just a hair that fell out. Silly me.”</p><p>	“Sister-in-law?” Bridgit asked for clarification.</p><p>	“Yes. I am Sirius’s brother.”</p><p>	She looked from Lupin to Sirius and asked, “So you’re married to Minerva, Sirius?”</p><p>	Sirius stuttered a bit before replying, “Uh, yeah. I’m her husband.”</p><p>	“That’s strange.”</p><p>	Minerva asked, “What is?”</p><p>	The social worker scowled at the papers from her file before responding, “They didn’t mention you two were married. In fact, there’s a lot of other information missing here, so I will need to fill in some blanks and update our information, if that’s alright.”</p><p>	“Well of course,” Minerva said, “What information do you need?”</p><p>	“Most of the information I need to know is about you, your husband, and the children.” She paused to look over the paper, then asked, “Mr...”</p><p>	Sirius quickly told her, “Black.”</p><p>	“Right. Mr. Black, what is it that you do for a living?”</p><p>	“I am lucky enough to find myself in a position that doesn’t require me to be employed.” After seeing the social worker look from him to McGonagall, he got the impression that she assumed he was leeching off her, so he added, “My parents left me with some money and I made enough smart investments that it has paid for my lifestyle thus far.”</p><p> </p><p>	She made another note, then looked at Snape with a cold, dead stare and no emotion in her voice, almost as if she were trying to mimic him, “And you?”</p><p>	“What about him?” Preston asked.</p><p>	Snape responded, “Are you asking me how I’m related to everyone here or what my job is?”</p><p>	“I just need to know how you fit in here.”</p><p>“I’m Preston’s biological father.”</p><p>	“What?!” Preston shouted.</p><p>	Minerva glared at him, “Severus.”</p><p>	“What? If Remus is-”</p><p>	Minerva huffed as she turned to look at Bridgit, “He is not anyone’s biological father. He is living here because he is Siriuis and Remus’s eldest brother.” She turned back to Snape and growled, “Behave.”</p><p>	The social worker raised an eyebrow, “So all of you live under one roof?”</p><p>	Minerva nodded, “As crowded as it is, we manage.”</p><p>	“I don’t want to sound rude, but how do you have enough bedrooms for everyone who lives here?”</p><p>	“The girls sleep in one room, the boys sleep in another, Sirius and I sleep in our own room, Severus and Lupin sleep in their own room, and Neville-”</p><p>	Lupin jumped in, “My son sleeps at his mother’s house for the time being, but he has most of his belongings in my room upstairs.”</p><p>	Bridgit finished the notes she’d been taking and then said, “I will need to see the children’s rooms.”</p><p>	Minerva scooted Rain off her lap as she stood up, “Of course, right this way.”</p><p>	Sirius quickly walked around to the doorway and said, “Honey, let me take her upstairs.”</p><p>	Minerva hesitantly sat back down pulling Rain back onto her lap so that Neville or Lupin could have the now empty seat. She tightened her grip on Rain out of anxiety as the social worker and Sirius left the room. Everyone in the room waited until the sound of Sirius’s voice was in the main hall by the stairs before anyone said anything.</p><p>	“Professor, you’re hurting me,” Rain announced as quietly as possible as she leaned forward in an attempt to get away.</p><p>	Minerva immediately loosened her grip on her student, causing the girl to fall forward and hit her head on the table before collapsing onto the ground. “I am so sorry, Rain! Are you alright?”</p><p>	Rain rubbed her head as the professor helped her up, “Yeah, I’m fine.”</p><p>	Lupin asked, “Minnie, are you okay?”</p><p>	She told him, “Let me deal with this first.”</p><p>	As Rain got to her feet, Minerva examined her head to make sure she wasn’t bleeding. The skin on her forehead was red where she hit her head, but there wasn’t any blood. Guilt started to sink in, despite there being no serious injury. Between the social worker, everything going on at Hogwarts, and trying to keep everyone safe, the pressure was getting to her and she was starting to get distracted by things that shouldn’t have been an issue for her.</p><p>	Rain gave her a smile, “I’m okay, Professor. I promise.”</p><p>	Minerva gave a smile in return, hoping to hide the fact that she felt bad. “Why don’t you and the others go out into the backyard for a bit.”</p><p>	The group of children immediately made a break for the front door, practically running each other over in an attempt to get outside, Snape following behind to make sure no one got injured while the social worker was present. As they disappeared from sight, Minerva slumped down into her chair and let out a sigh. Neville looked down at the ground, uncomfortable with seeing her in her current state of stress and nerves. Lupin sat forward and reached over to pat her on the back of the hand.</p><p>	“Is everything alright?” He asked.</p><p>	“Does that social worker seem a bit, I don’t know, off to either of you?” Minerva whispered.</p><p>	Neville shrugged as he replied, “I don’t know. I think she was being rude to Professor Snape, but it almost seems personal.”</p><p>	“It doesn’t sit well with me.” Minerva stood up and told them, “Can the two of you go out to help Snape with the children, I want to go upstairs while Sirius shows our new friends around.”</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	“Expelliarmus!” Rain shouted as she flicked her wrist toward Sadie, who was standing no more than twenty feet in front of her.</p><p>	Snape corrected her, “Make sure you’re aiming at Sadie’s hand or else you can’t disarm her. Try it again.”</p><p>	She reset, pulled at her wand, and this time aimed directly at Sadie’s wand as she shouted, “Expelliarmus!”</p><p>	As the wand flew back and grazed the side of Preston’s head, he commented, “Yo, watch where you’re throwing that, I’m not trying to get decapitated.”</p><p>	“Sorry.”</p><p>	She walked over and picked her wand up off the basement floor, then turned to where she was standing to try again. As she lifted the wand, the doorbell upstairs rang and everyone put their wands away as Minerva went up to answer the door. Everyone else rushed around the room to make it look like they were hanging out and playing board games together. A few of the neighbors had made friends with the professors, so it wasn’t uncommon for someone to randomly show up and pop in to say hello to anyone who was home. The students were the only kids in the entire neighborhood, so they had become the topic of interest for everyone.</p><p>	They heard the muffled voice of the nosey neighbor up the street, Mrs. Gall. None of them liked her, but they put up with her in order to avoid having to deal with any unnecessary drama. All their other neighbors had warned them in advance once they heard the Gall’s had introduced themselves first. Mr. Gall wasn’t the problem, he was a sweet older man who helped people around the neighborhood. Mrs. Gall was the one no one liked and it was due to her gossiping and overly judgemental nature. </p><p>	“Why can’t she just leave us alone?” Preston asked. “None of us like her. We avoid her at all costs.”</p><p>	“She seems to have mistaken us not killing her for us liking her,” Rain told him.</p><p>	Sadie looked at them with a big grin on her face, “So what you’re saying is that we need to-”</p><p>	“We are not killing anyone,” Snape told them, “I can’t believe I need to remind you of this, but we’re trying to avoid drawing any unnecessary attention to ourselves.”</p><p>	“And if we weren’t trying to stay under the radar?” Liam asked.</p><p>	“Oh the children!” They all heard Mrs. Gall wail as she came down the basement staircase.</p><p>	Snape side eyed Liam and replied, “I’d look the other way.”</p><p>	He stepped away as the neighbor lady went around the room and hugged each of the students, Rain suddenly not being the only one in the room that didn’t want to be hugged. Minerva gave them an apologetic look as the other woman turned to say hello to the other adults.</p><p>	Mrs. Gall announced, “I just wanted to come down here and see everyone. I really came to have a chat with Minerva, so I’ll let you all get back to what you were doing.”</p><p>	Minerva ushered the neighbor back up to the living room while the students returned to their magical lesson, but with more discretion. The students stood around Sirius as he explained the spell in further detail and had them practice it in hushed voices. They had fun quietly disarming one another, gradually raising the volume of their voices as they got more and more into the lesson. Lupin, feeling as though they’d mastered the disarming spell, decided to see how they handled dueling with one another this time around. He knew Rain and Preston injured themselves last time, but they were still getting the hang of the spells they were using and Rain didn’t understand how spell casting worked at that time.</p><p>	“Can we just do teams?” Rain requested, not wanting to hurt anyone or herself again.</p><p>	Lupin bent over to look her in the eye, “This time, you can stand and watch, join in when you’re comfortable. You should learn how to defend yourself without the help of your friends, because there may come a day when you’re fighting alone. All of us hope that day never comes, but the war doesn’t appear to be over.”</p><p>	“Yet,” Preston added with finger guns and a wink.</p><p>	Sirius moved them along, “Alright, let’s have you guys get in a circle. Cast the disarming charm you learned at someone. If you’re not disarming someone, cast your shielding charm.”</p><p>	Rain joined the circle, hoping her agility with shieling would keep her well protected from the disarming spells. Everyone pulled out their wands and waited for their cue to start. The second he told them to go Sadie took her shot at Liam, who put up a shield and immediately returned the favor. Preston and Ash locked eyes in a showdown until Ash made the first move, prompting Preston to block. Emmett had followed Sadie’s lead and cast the spell almost as soon as they were told to begin, but Rain was already prepared to defend herself. The circle started firing spells at whoever they saw with a shield up, Sadie accidentally missing Ash and knocking Lupin’s wand out of his hand. Emmett intentionally misaimed for Preston and tried to do the same to Snape, but the professor deflected the spell.</p><p>	On the way back to Emmett, the spell collided with one of the other spells that another student had cast, causing them to morph together and bounce around the room. It hit a lamp that was on top of a bookshelf which teetered on the edge before crashing to the ground. The orb of energy ricocheted and flew through the middle of the students. As it hit the opposite wall and bounced back toward the group again, everybody ducked down to avoid getting hit. This time it came back and hit Snape’s wand, throwing it across the room.</p><p>	Everyone slowly got back up and looked at Emmett as Minerva rushed into the room, Mrs. Gall following closely behind. She looked almost stunned to find everyone safe and sound without a single scratch on them. Instead of asking what happened, she gave Sirius a look and he pointed in the direction of the lamp. Minerva looked both relieved and upset as she insisted to Mrs. Gall that everything was fine and began to lead her back upstairs.</p><p>	She stopped in the doorway and told the students, “Clean up the mess.”</p><p>	“Yes ma’am.”</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	Minerva was having a late afternoon tea with Mrs. Gall when there was a knock on the front door. She was relieved to have a break from the gossiping neighbor until she saw the uniform of a police officer through the window and her heart dropped. Opening the front door, she tried to stay calm and put on a smile in order to hide her anxiety. It faded when she saw all six of her children, disheveled, bruised, and lined up with an officer on each end, one of whom had a tight grip on the collar of Preston’s shirt. They all had dirt on their hands and face, holes in their clothes, and appeared to have been in some sort of altercation.</p><p>	“What happened?” Minerva asked the officer before he could introduce himself.</p><p>	The officer explained, “Well, ma’am, we found these children out fighting some of the other locals. They said you’re their mother?”</p><p>	Minerva sighed, “Yes I am.”</p><p>	The officer looked back at the group of children, then at Minerva and asked, “Even the one on the end?”</p><p>	“Do you mean Preston?” She asked as she pointed to the student in question.</p><p>	“Yes, ma’am.”</p><p>	“Then yes, Officer, even the one on the end.”</p><p>	The police man nodded at her and said, “I’ll let them explain what happened, but you’ll be contacted about scheduling a hearing this week. If you’d like to bring up charges, feel free to come down to the station and we can get that going.” He motioned for the other two officers to bring the children forward. “The individuals they were fighting with are known troublemakers, so I’m sure the situation wasn’t entirely their fault.”</p><p>	Minerva stepped to the side to let the students in, stopping Rain when she caught sight of the dried blood around her nostrils and tissue shoved up her nose. “Why is it always you?”</p><p>	“That’s what I said,” Rain replied.</p><p>	The professor thanked the officers before shutting the door, then led Rain into the kitchen. The rest of the children followed as she instructed Rain to sit on the island in the middle of the room. Curious as to what the knock at the door was about, Sirius and Snape had both made their way into the kitchen from wherever they were in the house. The sight of Rain stopped them both in their tracks and forced them to take a look at the rest of the students. Each of them looked like they had been roughed up and a slew of questions entered each of their heads.</p><p>	Snape said, “I assume the lot of you got into a fight?”</p><p>	Minerva glared at him from around the side of the refrigerator, “They did, but the police don’t seem too concerned about them being part of it. The other party involved apparently has a history with the law.”</p><p>	“We weren’t even doing anything, just minding our own business,” Ash told him.</p><p>	Sirius looked at her and asked, “What happened?”</p><p>	“We went for a walk around town and these two guys were having a conversation. They stopped us and asked where we thought we were going and why we were hanging out with someone like Preston.” Ash was visibly angry.</p><p>	“They did what?” Sirius asked.</p><p>	“Absolutely unacceptable,” Minerva said as she handed Rain a cold gel pack to put on the black eye that accompanied her bloody nose. “</p><p>	Mrs. Gall chimed in from the dining room doorway, “It sounds like the Schmidt brothers. Why you would choose to pick a fight with them-”</p><p>	Rain spun to look at the woman, “Look, lady. Us walking around town minding our own business isn’t us picking a fight. They were threatening us because we were hanging out with a black kid. If you’re going to side with the two full grown men attacking a group of children because one of us isn’t white enough, then I have no problem hopping off this counter and kicking your ass.”</p><p>	The neighbor woman was shocked by the backtalk and replied, “Young lady you have no right to speak to me-”</p><p>	Snape interrupted her. “Actually Mrs. Gall, you have no right to condemn any of our children. Please leave.”</p><p>	“Why I never-”</p><p>	“And you never will.” He looked from Rain, to the neighbor before adding, “Now get out or I will make no effort to stop her from attacking you.”</p><p>	Their neighbor huffed and shoved her way through the crowded kitchen, giving Rain a dirty look as she walked out of the room, making no attempt to stop for Sirius to move out of her way. He quickly stepped back to let her through, rolling his eyes at her behavior as she continued to the front door and down the front steps. Seeing that she left the door open, he walked over and shut it, making sure she could hear it.</p><p>	“Good girl,” Minerva whispered to Rain as she gave her a wink. “Let’s get that nose taken care of. Does it hurt?”</p><p>	Rain replied, “Only if I touch it.”</p><p>	The professor gently pinched the bridge of her student’s nose and began to remove the tissues that were soaking up the blood as she asked, “Did they not have someone look at your nose?”</p><p>	“They just asked us a couple of questions and brought us home,” Sadie clarified.</p><p>	Minerva put her hand under Rain’s chin and tilted her head back to check and make sure her nose was no longer bleeding. The young girl quipped, “At least I didn’t cry as hard as the guy who punched me.”</p><p>	Sirius inquired, “The man who punched you cried?”</p><p>	“Yeah. He broke his hand when I dodged the second hit and his hand went straight into a brick wall.”</p><p>	“You caused him to break his hand?” Snape clarified.</p><p>	Preston confirmed, “Oh yeah.”</p><p>	“You could see bone and everything!” Sadie told him excitedly.</p><p>	Emmett told her, “Sometimes your bloodlust worries me.”</p><p>	Rain rolled her eyes, “What do you expect? She’s a fucking crackhead.”</p><p>	“Yeah, well pot meet kettle,” Sadie responded.</p><p>	Minerva handed two ice packs to Sadie, “Pass one to Preston for his black eye and you put the other on your cheek to keep it from bruising. Did you get hit too?”</p><p>	Sadie shook her head, “Liam accidentally elbowed me when we were helping Rain and Preston.”</p><p>	“Could be worse, I suppose.” Minerva turned her attention to everyone in the room and said, “Now I need some space in here, so everyone, get out. </p><p>	“Since my nose is no longer gushing blood, can I go lay down? I’m tired.”</p><p>	Minerva helped Rain off of the counter, “I think it’s best you stay down here so that I can keep an eye on you. You’re more than welcome to get your blanket from your bed and curl up on the sofa.”</p><p>	Rain sighed in surrender as she walked out with the other students and professors. To everyone’s surprise, Snape had taken it upon himself to help Rain get settled in on the couch and made sure to check on Preston and Sadie before returning to the kitchen to speak with Minerva about pressing charges against the men that had attacked them. They would become a target if they did, but the men would only get a slap on the wrist if they didn’t. After a long discussion, which Sirius had also joined in on, they agreed that it would be best to press charges. It may draw some attention to them, but no more than the children’s panel hearing would.</p><p>	“So it’s settled. I’ll go in tomorrow and speak with someone about drawing up charges.” Minerva concluded.</p><p>	Snape asked, “You’re sure about this?”</p><p>	She nodded, “They’ve put up with quite enough abuse. If I didn’t do something to protect them now, I’d fail them as a guardian.”</p><p>	“And soon-to-be mother,” Sirius added.</p><p>	“Yes.” Minerva nodded. “A mother protects her children and currently they aren’t being very well protected. Now, if someone would like to make dinner or call in a take away, I think I need to spend some time with them.”</p><p>	“Take away?” Neville asked as he entered the kitchen from the living room.</p><p>	“Yes,” Snape said, “I think it would be best if we called in an order, given that we are trying to limit our use of magic for the time being.”</p><p>	Sirius took the keys from the hook next to the entry to the kitchen, “I’ll head over to the Chinese take away over the bridge if someone wants to call in the order. It should be just about ready by the time I get there.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter Nine</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Before you read, I just wanted to let everyone know that I will not be able to post much for a bit. I live on the west coast and my state is currently on fire. Evacuations are happening and I don't know if/when I'll be able to write or upload. I am going to try and stay active, but there may be a week with nothing new posted. Thank you for your patience! Stay safe everyone!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Good morning Professor," Harry said as he entered the living room where Minerva was sitting with the students.</p><p>"Hello, Harry," Minerva smiled as he approached her for a hug so that she wouldn't have to get up. "What brings you here today?"</p><p>He looked around at the students before responding, "Well, I'm here to let you know that the social worker took a look at your case and she thinks you all look like a great fit on paper, but she just wants to spend a day observing everyone before she gets the adoption papers sent out."</p><p>"What?" Minerva's smile began to fade.</p><p>"I-I'm sorry. Um. The process is a little different from what we were expecting, but I don't think they can speed it up-"</p><p>"No, Harry. The social worker has been by to see us multiple times already."</p><p>Harry took a glance at the students, who all seemed just as dumbfounded as McGonagall was. "Professor. I don't know who came to see you, but there's no chance it was the social worker. She had a last minute family emergency and only just got back into the country. She's been on the other side of Europe since the beginning of the year."</p><p>Minerva looked uneasy as she called out for Sirius, Snape, Lupin, and Neville to join them. The four men slowly appeared and found their seats in the room, while Harry Potter caught them up to speed. No one knew what to say. If the social worker that he was in contact with hadn't shown up to meet them yet, then who was the woman that had been showing up to the house so often? None of them needed to say anything, it was obvious that they would have to leave.</p><p>"How soon does the real social worker want to meet?" She asked.</p><p>"She said tomorrow would work best when she and I spoke."</p><p>Sirius said, "If this other person isn't the social worker we were supposed to be meeting with, would it be safe for us to stay here another night? For all we know, this person is outside watching us right now."</p><p>Preston got up from where he was sitting, "Well if she is, it looks like we're gonna have to kick some ass."</p><p>Snape pointed to the loveseat the student had been sitting in as he told him, "Sit back down. You'll be doing no such thing."</p><p>Harry said, "I think I can get her here first thing in the morning, if that helps."</p><p>Minerva sighed. "Alright. For now, we act like we don't know anything. When she leaves tomorrow we'll pack everything and send it back to Hogwarts."</p><p>The idea of moving the children back to Hogwarts seemed premature, but something about the woman who had been posing as their social worker didn't set well with any of the professors. Harry was baffled as to why anyone would fake being a one, unless they had some sort of personal gain. He would need to look into the situation, because something seemed almost ominous.</p><p>The social worker had shown up at exactly eight in the morning. Everyone had been so preoccupied with making sure the house was in order that her knocking almost went unnoticed. Everyone played their part during her visit, not straying from the backstory they'd created in order to avoid suspicion. They went through the same routine of being asked questions and answering them as honestly as possible. The only difference was that this social worker pulled each of them aside for separate interviews.</p><p>She started with Minerva and worked her way down to Neville, then moved onto the children. Upon the suggestion of Minerva, Liam was the first of the children interviewed, followed by Emmett and Ash, then Preston, Sadie, and Rain. Everything went accordingly and the questioning portion of the visit ended within an hour. The next thing on the list was to go through the house and make sure the children's home was a safe place for them to live. She examined their rooms closely and made sure there was adequate room for them. They all held their breath, hoping she wouldn't notice the rooms looked larger than they should have been because of the charms.</p><p>The full visit was over by noon and the social worker departed with nothing negative to say against them. Almost as soon as the woman was out of the driveway, Minerva instructed the students to get their belongings packed and bring them downstairs. Everyone in the house was more excited to get back to Hogwarts than they had realized, because just about everything was packed and the house laid empty before dinner.</p><p>The students loaded up into the car without having to be asked, leaving a spot for Minerva and Sirius, who made their way to the car after making sure everything was out of the house. Neville, Snape, and Lupin slid into the front seat once everyone was settled in and they began their journey back to Hogwarts, the students promptly making sure to spread out as much as possible. Instead of engaging in conversation, the students spent the car ride reading and then napping, which forced the adults to lower their voices.</p><p>"So what's the plan here? Are we taking them back to the house in the forest, or are we lucky enough that the situation with Penelope has died down so they can start boarding in their respective houses?" Sirius asked Minerva.</p><p>She replied, "We will go back to the house, but they've been told to return to their classes after the weekend. Dumbledore thinks it will ruin their chances of bonding with the other students if we don't let them go back and I have to agree."</p><p>Knowing how change affected her, Snape asked, "What are you going to do about Rain? She was only just getting used to the schedule in Inverness. Do you really think she'll be well adjusted enough to rejoin the others?"</p><p>Minerva shook her head, "I don't think so, but I don't want to keep her from learning with everyone else."</p><p>The car got quiet as they continued their drive back through. By the time they'd arrived at Hogwarts it had begun to rain. They dropped Neville off at the castle before taking off and heading to their house in the woods. Everything seemed almost eerily quiet as they drove through the trees. Dumbledore had managed to get rid of the Dementors a few weeks ago, so they should have seen or heard some other life form on their way in.</p><p>The silence was distubred by a gasp from Minerva as they reached the clearing. Between the treeline and the house they could see a large group of cloaked figures standing in wait. Lupin made sure to cut the headlights and turn off the vehicle. They sat and watched the mysterious strangers, unsure of who they were and what they wanted. After spending a couple months away from Hogwarts, they'd hoped their first night back home would be spent sleeping, rather than having to deal with hooded beings with unknown intent.</p><p>"What's happening?" Sadie asked as she rubbed her eyes.</p><p>Minerva whispered, "Go back to sleep."</p><p>"Who are those people?" The student asked as she pointed in the direction of the house.</p><p>Sirius replied, "Probably a welcoming party, just close your eyes and go back to sleep."</p><p>A tap on the window to the left of Snape startled everyone and caused Sadie to let out a yelp, which caused the rest of the students to wake up. Lupin looked to his left to see Firenze standing beside the car. Snape rolled his eyes as he cranked the lever to put the window down. The tension the professors had been feeling caused the air to grow thick and it wasn't until the fresh wave of oxygen came through the window that everyone realized.</p><p>"I'm sorry to scare you, but I wanted to inform you that you are not alone in this fight," Firenze whispered at them.</p><p>"What fight?" Snape almost commanded.</p><p>The Centaur explained, "It would appear as though the Death Eaters are very much alive and well. They've been here since yesterday, waiting for you to return. They plan to kill your children."</p><p>The grip that Minerva had on Sadie's hand got tighter as she asked, "What do you mean? Why do they want to kill the children?"</p><p>He shook his head, "What we have gathered is that they don't think they belong here. One of them mentioned something about how they aren't supposed to be here."</p><p>Minerva told them, "Maybe this is a conversation to have outside the car."</p><p>Firenze agreed as he took a step back so Snape could open his door. Lupin got out of the drive side and pulled the front seat down so that Minerva and Sirius could get out. Not wanting to risk making too much noise, they left both doors open. Liam, seeing an opportunity, quickly and quietly climbed out of the car and made a dash for the large boulder to their right. His friends sat and watched as he made sure he was hidden from both the professors and the Death Eaters. After making sure the coast was clear, he motioned for them to join him. Not knowing what he was doing and concerned for his well being, they followed his lead.</p><p>"What are you doing?" Sadie asked him as she ducked down behind the boulder.</p><p>"I thought you were supposed to be the responsible one," Rain told him.</p><p>"I'm sick of these people and their shit. I just want to get this done and over with. If we create a distraction, everyone else can fight them off."</p><p>"You're high," Preston said.</p><p>"No. I'm just tired and I want to go to bed. They're gonna wait forever and then these Death Eater guys are just gonna come back tomorrow." He waited for someone to respond. When no response came, he told them, "Either come with me or don't. I don't care."</p><p>He whispered a summoning incantation for his broom and waited for it to appear from the house. One by one, Preston, Sadie, Rain, Emmett, and Ash did the same. They watched as each broom quietly flew up and over the house, the Death Eaters not even taking notice. There was just enough tree coverage for them to fly through the trees to the right and hover above the treetops. Liam asked Sadie and Rain to wait for him and the other three to start running their distraction before swooping in and spell casting.</p><p>"You want me to cast spells?" Rain asked.</p><p>"Yeah. It'll be fine, so long as you don't do any big spells."</p><p>Before she could say anything else, the four students flew off, leaving her and Sadie to wait for their moment. They dashed down into the group, fly from one end to the other. Preston pulled out his wand to toss a ball of light at Emmett, who blocked it and sent it flying toward Ash. In order to avoid colliding with one of the Death Eaters, Ash made a short stop to let the orb pass before flying up and immediately dropping to cast a ball of energy in Liam's direction. Seeing the Death Eaters rallying together to try and take out their friends, Sadie and Rain finally swooped in. Rain grabbed onto open of the cloaks and took off toward the trees, waving her trophy in the air.</p><p>"You bitch!" She heard Penelope yell.</p><p>Rain smiled and narrowed her eyes as she shouted back, "Oh I'm sorry, was this yours?"</p><p>"Drop it or you're dead!"</p><p>The girl chuckled as she released her grip and let the cloak float down through the canopy of branches. Sadie gave the bully a quick zap to distract her before flying over the roof of the house, disappearing behind it. It was obvious to the professors now that the students had left the vehicle and they ran out of the trees, wands drawn and ready to go. The Centaurs came forward as well, surrounding the clearing and creating an overbearing presence.</p><p>"What the hell is this?" They heard one of the Death Eaters yell.</p><p>Another answered with, "Retreat."</p><p>Rain shouted to her friends, "Don't let them get away!"</p><p>She raced back to the crowd as Sadie emerged from behind the house, letting out a battle cry as she shot a sticking charm at the first person to catch her eye. The group of students flew around, making sure to stick everyone in place as Sirius, Snape, and Lupin started firing spells in their direction. Minerva watched on nervously as the Death Eaters began firing back spells of their own. Bolts and orbs of electricity shot in every direction, forcing the students to get defensive and block just as much as they were casting.</p><p>"Preston, do you think you can get some of them to follow you into the woods if I release them?" Sadie asked as she hovered near her friend.</p><p>"And do what with them?"</p><p>"I don't know. I'm sure McGonagall knows a way to trap them or something."</p><p>Preston nodded, "Just let me know when. I'll get them where they need to go."</p><p>"Perfect, I'll go talk to McGonagall."</p><p>As Sadie flew off, Preston made his way to Liam to inform him of the plan and pass along the message to one of the others. The message took a little longer to pass around than he had expected, so when he took off for the woods with five Death Eaters on his tail, Rain bolted toward them, hoping to get one or two of them to follow after her instead. As she dashed across, she felt something rip at her flesh. She looked down to find a cut across her left shoulder. She looked down to see Penelope with a shit eating grin on her face.</p><p>Suddenly a bright orb hit her in the side of the head and Sadie yelled, "Bitch!"</p><p>When Rain turned to continue on her way, she noticed Preston was already coming back, but was no longer being followed. Although there were well over a hundred Death Eaters, it was obvious that the ones who had chased him hadn't come back. She turned to say something to Sadie, who was shaking her head to tell her not to go looking for them. Below them, Sirius was dueling with a Death Eater that had attempted to throw Sadie from her broom. The last thing any of them wanted was one of the students getting hurt.</p><p>Just as Sirius thought he'd avoided a near catastrophe, he watched Ash fall a good ten feet from where she'd been flying. Minerva, who left the trapped Death Eaters with some of the Centaurs, ran from the trees to protect her student from further harm. Seeing what happened, Liam landed near them and cast a shielding spell as they made their way to the back of the house. Minerva instructed him to stay with Ash in the storeroom while she checked the rest of their home for any Death Eaters.</p><p>Things were beginning to pick up outside, but luckily the Death Eaters started to retreat once they realized the Centaurs were capturing and carting off their friends. Fortunately, there was nowhere for them to go, except the forest. Sirius, Lupin, Snape, and the children watched as the crowd slowly dispersed into the trees, in a desperate attempt to get through the blockade of forest dwelling creatures. The occasional scream signaled the successful capture of the wizards they'd been hoping to apprehend for months. Surprisingly, there were forty-one Slytherin and six Ravenclaw students in the army they'd fought against.</p><p>Sirius turned around to say something to the children and noticed there were short three students. "Where are the girls?"</p><p>Liam replied, "I left Ash in the house with McGonagall."</p><p>"The last time I saw Sadie she asked me to distract some Eaters into the forest," Preston added.</p><p>Lupin asked, "Could they have gone inside?"</p><p>Preston answered, "No way. They were itching for this fight."</p><p>Snape pointed behind Sirius and told him, "They found them."</p><p>Sirius turned around to see Firenze walking toward them with four members of his clan, Sadie and Rain laying limp across his back. Without hesitation, he quickly made his way over with Snape and they each took a student to carry back into the house, while Lupin thanked the Centaur for his generosity. The boys ran ahead to warn Minerva, but she was already halfway to the front door when they got inside.</p><p>"Is that Rain and Sadie?" She asked as she backed away so they could get in.</p><p>"I don't know what happened, but they're both bloodied up pretty good," Sirius said as he laid Sadie down on one side of the island in the kitchen.</p><p>Snape set Rain down on the other end, "It's obviously my Sectumsempra curse."</p><p>"Well do something!" Minerva pleaded.</p><p>Lupin all but broke the door down as he entered the house, "Are they alive?"</p><p>Minerva answered, "Barely. Can you take the boys and Ash back to Hogwarts? They don't need to see this and Ash needs medical attention for her arm."</p><p>Lupin nodded as he pried the students away from what was happening and walked them to the fireplace. One by one they used the floo powder from the mantle to get to the castle. Minerva felt a small bit of relief once they were gone, knowing they'd be safer and more protected at the castle. She didn't want to risk any more of her students being seriously injured.</p><p>Minerva couldn't hold in her anger any longer as she exclaimed, "Damn it! It's always Rain. She's like a bloody lightning rod."</p><p>"I can't stop the bleeding." Snape began to panic as he walked around to the cupboard where they stored some of their potions. "I don't know why, but my counterspell isn't stopping the bleeding."</p><p>"Dittany?" Sirius suggested as he began applying pressure to a large wound in Sadie's left side.</p><p>Snape tossed him the vial as he continued to dig through his potions, "They must have adjusted the curse just enough to make it so I wouldn't be able to reserve it."</p><p>Minerva's voice began to shake as she told them, "We need to do something, Rain's lips are turning blue and Sadie's breathing is getting more shallow."</p><p>"Alright, I think I have some blood replenishing potion in the cabinet in the bathroom," Snape told her as he turned and walked back to the master suite.</p><p>Sirius handed the bottle of Dittany to Minerva, "Sadie's wounds are healing, but she's lost too much blood."</p><p>Minerva didn't say anything as she applied drops of Dittany to Rain's various cuts and gashes. There was a shallow slit across the child's neck and she asked Sirius, "Was Sadie's throat cut?"</p><p>"Yes, but it wasn't too deep."</p><p>Snape entered the room, opening a potion bottle as he said, "Cowards tried to kill them, but didn't have the guts to finish the job. Something tells me this was Alec's doing."</p><p>Minerva sat the Dittany off to the side and gently opened Rain's mouth, "We can't blame anyone for this yet, but Merlin help whoever did this."</p><p>Minerva stood at the foot of her bed and watched her three girls sleep. Ash was sleeping on the right side, Sadie was in the middle, and Rain was on the left.</p><p>"How are they?" Sirius asked as he handed her a cup of tea.</p><p>"Well, they're alive. Despite the odds of what happened tonight," McGonagall replied solemnly.</p><p>He knew she wasn't in the best spirits, but he decided to ask her another question anyway, "How are you, then?"</p><p>Minerva scoffed at herself, "I don't know how to answer that." She sighed before stating, "One student with an arm that broke in two places and two students that nearly bled to death because we couldn't counter a curse."</p><p>"We didn't know they would be creating curses and spells to use against us."</p><p>"I know. I'm not faulting anyone, except whoever did this." She looked into her tea as she admitted, "I don't know how parents who have lost children deal with it. I can't get the image of you and Snape carrying them into the house out of my head. It just keeps replaying."</p><p>"Where am I?" They heard Sadie ask.</p><p>Minerva reached over and touched her foot to get her attention, "You're safe. You and Rain had a little accident, but nothing we couldn't handle."</p><p>"Did we win?" Sadie asked as she slowly sat up.</p><p>Minerva gave her a smile, "It seems like it. Only time will tell."</p><p>"Did Penelope get away?"</p><p>Sirius shook his head, "No way would she have made it past the Centaurs. We're still hearing about which students were caught, but so far most of her friends are going to be expelled if they haven't already."</p><p>Sadie crossed her arms, "Good. They're all a bunch of bitches."</p><p>Sirius looked at Minerva, waiting for her to scold Sadie, but the woman told him, "We have bigger problems right now."</p><p>"Bigger than the pain in my throat?" Rain wheezed from where she was laying.</p><p>Minerva moved to sit on the side of the bed as Sirius asked, "How are those arms of yours feeling?"</p><p>Rain looked over at him, "Probably better than Sadie's shiner."</p><p>"I have a black eye?" Sadie asked as she reached her hands up to touch it.</p><p>Minerva reached to pull her hands down, "Of course you have a black eye."</p><p>"You took a pretty fantastic tumble off your broom," Sirius informed her.</p><p>"Well, I aim to impress," She told him.</p><p>Rain added, "Gotta go out in style." She coughed and let out a groan, "Remind me to kick Penelope's ass."</p><p>"You can't," Sadie told her.</p><p>"Why the fuck not?"</p><p>"Because she's hopefully getting expelled."</p><p>Minerva put her hands up, "Alright, I can only make exceptions for certain profanities. No four letter words."</p><p>"Like shit and fuck?" Rain asked.</p><p>Minerva glared at her. "Yes, Rain."</p><p>"What about damn, arse, and hell?" Sadie asked.</p><p>Sirius stifled a chuckle as Minerva responded, "Excuse me?"</p><p>"If those are out, then cock, twat, and prick are out of the question."</p><p>"Prick is a five letter word," Sirius corrected. Minerva shot him a look that could kill and he shrugged, "What? Spelling is important."</p><p>"Knob, dick, and cunt are also probably a no-go."</p><p>"But bitch and son if a bitch aren't."</p><p>Sadie nodded, "Neither are bastard, choad, or motherfucker."</p><p>Minerva rolled her eyes, "10 points from Hufflepuff for each word." As she got up to take a breather in the kitchen and wash her teacup, she looked at both girls and said, "You're lucky I don't have it in me to punish the two of you right now. I have half a mind to give you detention."</p><p>"Detention?" They asked at the same time.</p><p>Sirius told them, "Since it looks as though the trouble makers are gone, you'll be going back to the castle for classes, which means you'll start getting punished like the rest of the students." He thought for a moment, then added, "Although in your case it's worse, because you can be punished at home now, as well."</p><p>Minerva stopped in the doorway and told them, "I'll do too."</p><p>Lupin closed the door as he and Snape entered the house, "Alright, we've sealed off the perimeter."</p><p>Minerva, who was washing out her teacup at the kitchen sink, turned and asked, "How are things looking out there?"</p><p>Snape responded, "Firenze let us know that someone from his colony witnessed what happened to Rain and Sadie. Penelope and Alec Roberts were using a modified version of my curse to torture them. We couldn't hear the girls calling for us, because they used a Silencio charm." He was visibly angry and the next bit of news caused him to grit his teeth before telling her, "They were planning to cut off their heads."</p><p>The color drained from Minerva's face, "They what?"</p><p>"Alec chickened out and they started arguing, that's when Firenze's friend chased them toward the other Centaurs that were waiting nearby."</p><p>Lupin had been quiet up until this point, but decided to add, "That probably why they both had slashes across their necks."</p><p>The room grew quiet and Sirius stepped out of the dark hallway that led to the bedroom he shared with Minerva and Snape, "One of us should inform Dumbledore."</p><p>"I'll go," Lupin volunteered and quickly walked to the fireplace.</p><p>Minerva leaned back against the sink, "I'll take the first watch tonight."</p><p>Snape shook his head, "You need to get some sleep, Sirius and I can manage."</p><p>She crossed her arms, "I won't be able to sleep."</p><p>"I have a sleeping potion in the cupboard by the refrigerator."</p><p>She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Rain calling, "Professor McGonagall, can you come here?"</p><p>"Coming sweetie," Minerva replied, trying not to let her voice crack. She looked at the two men and told them, "You'll come get me if we have any unwelcome guests?"</p><p>"Of course."</p><p>Sirius sighed as he sat on the couch, "I know Minnie is a logical person and doesn't usually let her emotions get the better of her, but I'd almost be willing to bet that she is going to kill anyone who's stupid enough to show up here for a fight."</p><p>Snape nodded, "I won't be stopping her."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter Ten</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The students sat around Minerva's office, playing a round of Wizard Uno. It was similar to regular Uno, only the cards magically drew on their own. The professors had gone up to Hogwarts to meet with Dumbledore and the students had to follow along, just in case a Death Eater or twelve decided to show up while they were away.</p><p>"I was thinking," Rain started, "What if we just started actually trying to be good at spellcasting and potions?"</p><p>Preston looked puzzled, "What do you mean?"</p><p>"What if we started playing to our strengths?"</p><p>Sadie asked, "Like, only did what we're good at?"</p><p>Rain reached into the back pocket of the pants she was wearing and pulled out a piece of paper, "Sort of." She unfolded it, revealing everyone's marks for each class. "I've been tracking everyone's grades since we got here."</p><p>"How did you-"</p><p>"They don't guard them closely enough. That's not the point though."</p><p>"Then what is?" Liam inquired, almost annoyed.</p><p>"Each of us has something we're really good at. Like, impossibly good at, for being first years." She turned the paper around to show everyone, "Liam, you're a lot better than the rest of us at anything related to the Dark Arts. Emmett, you apparently are the best with potion making."</p><p>"What am I good at?" Ash interjected.</p><p>"Um… Flying. Apparently Madam Hooch wants you on the Quidditch team. Preston is also pretty great with flying. Sadie is better at Charms than the rest of us. I'm apparently our Herbology pro, which I don't understand."</p><p>Preston got overly excited as he said, "Yo, we can totally make those ageing potions now and finally be adults."</p><p>"I don't know," Rain protested, "We'll get into trouble if we start brewing potions without Snape's help."</p><p>"It'll be fine. I'll even take the blame for the whole thing, if we get caught."</p><p>Sadie shot up, "I'll get the cauldron."</p><p>Emmett sighed, "I guess I'll head to Snape's classroom with Sadie and get everything set up for brewing."</p><p>Preston headed out the door as he looked over his shoulder, "Rain, let's go get the ingredients. Ash can look out for us while Liam keeps a lookout for Sadie and Emmett."</p><p>The two groups parted ways to do what they needed to do. Sadie and Emmett had the brewing station set up and ready to go in record time. Rain and Preston had a bit more of a challenge trying to get the ingredients together. They couldn't let Snape know they'd been in his closet to get the supplies, so they had to duplicate anything they took. By the time they'd found each ingredient, duplicated them, and returned to Snape's classroom, almost twenty minutes had passed.</p><p>"It's about time!" Sadie said as they walked in. "We thought you'd gotten lost."</p><p>Preston scoffed, "You try finding these ingredients. Snape reorganized his inventory, so we had to look around to find everything."</p><p>"Yeah, he has it all organized by what type of ingredient it is," Rain clarified. She grimaced as she added, "It's kind of weird. I don't like it."</p><p>Emmett, who already had the water boiling, told them, "Well someone hurry up and drop in the newt spleen, then the banana."</p><p>"What about the unicorn horn?" Asked Ash.</p><p>"What about it?" Emmett returned.</p><p>Sadie tilted her head as she looked at the horn, "Does this recipe call for unicorn horn?"</p><p>Emmett shrugged, "I can't remember, but honestly, I'd rather put it in than leave it out. Worst case scenario, we end up immune to low grade poisons instead of ageing."</p><p>Liam commented, "Someone should have brought their textbook."</p><p>"Yeah, well we didn't know I was excelling at potions until a little bit ago, so forgive me for not remembering to bring it from home."</p><p>Emmett gestured for everyone to add the ingredients as he continued to stir the building water. Ash dropped in the banana, Preston dropped in the newt spleen, and Sadie put in the powdered unicorn horn. The liquid began to bubble even more and a sparkling smoke rose from the cauldron. The pearlescent green color wasn't exactly what they were expecting to see when they looked in at their brew, but neither was the smell.</p><p>"That's absolutely rank," Rain said as she fanned the unpleasant aroma from her face.</p><p>Emmett winced, "Yeah, well find me a way to make boiled newt spleen smell good." He turned his head to get a breath of fresh air before turning back and asking, "Who's the brave one that's going to be drinking this?"</p><p>They all replied in unison, "Straws."</p><p>Each of them found a stirring utensil from around the room. Four of them were the same size, two of them were shorter. Whoever got the shortest of the two other glass sticks would have to drink the potion to test it out and see if it worked. Sadie and Liam drew the shorter sticks, but Sadie's was much smaller, which meant that she would have to drink the potion. It took some encouragement, but she finally plugged her nose and took a large ladle and filled it to the brim, then gulped it down.</p><p>"Feel anything?" Rain asked.</p><p>"No." Sadie put her hands out and said, "I don't think it worked. Does this mean I'm just immune to poison now?"</p><p>Emmett shrugged, "Either that or you drank nasty smelling water for no reason. Are you sure you don't feel anything?"</p><p>"Yeah I'm sur-" She slowly began shrinking and said, "Oh god, guys, I think we did something wrong!"</p><p>Within a matter of seconds there was a pile of clothing where Sadie had been standing and a crying baby was laying in the middle of it. Everyone looked at each other in horror, not sure of what just happened. The potion they were trying to brew was supposed to age them forward by a decade or so, not age them backward. They scattered and began looking around the room for Snape's book, hoping to find a way to reverse it. Before they could locate it, the sound of the moody professor's voice calling for them sent all five of the students to stand in front of baby Sadie, who was still crying on the floor.</p><p>Snape entered the room and asked, "What are you all doing in here?" He approached the group and began pulling students back toward the door, "You were told to stay in the office. Where is-" He stopped at the sight of the baby on the ground. "Is that?" He looked from the cauldron to the group of students. His eyes widened and he commanded, "Stay here with this thing. I need to go get your mother."</p><p>He stormed out and Preston asked, "Did he just say 'your mother' in reference to Professor McGonagall?"</p><p>Liam nodded, "Yes he did."</p><p>"I don't think Snape likes babies," Rain pointed out. "He almost looked terrified. Anyone else want to turn themselves into a baby and make him cringe?"</p><p>"It may even confuse anyone out there trying to get to us, so I think we should do it," Ash pointed out.</p><p>The other five students wasted no time as they consumed the green liquid by the ladle, then sat in a circle as they waited for the transformation to take place. One by one they shrunk in size, leaving piles of clothes around them. Sadie had stopped crying shortly after Snape left, but the other five screaming babies got her to fuss some more, filling the hallways of Hogwarts with the sound of chaos and displeasure of the cold floor they were laying on.</p><p>The professors entered the room with Dumbledore within ten minutes after Snape first discovered Sadie. Minerva looked down at the babies laying on the floor, then reached down to pick up two of them, "I thought you said Sadie was turned into a baby. You never mentioned the other students."</p><p>Snape stood with his arms crossed from the door and told her, "That's because Sadie was the only baby when I left. They must have taken the potion, but didn't revert until I went to get you."</p><p>"What am I supposed to do with six newborn babies, Severus?" She handed both of them to Lupin, then bent down to pick up two more, handing them both to Sirius. "One, maybe, but six?"</p><p>Dumbledore reached down and picked Sadie up from the ground, "Well, you'll just have to look after them until we find out what they did and how to reverse it."</p><p>Sirius spoke up, "Easier said than done, I think. It looks like the cauldron is completely empty. Whatever they brewed, they drank all of it."</p><p>Minerva picked the last baby up off the ground and said, "Severus, I need you to figure out what they did and how to fix it. As much as I wanted to have a baby, I never intended to have to look after six of them at a time."</p><p>Sirius looked at her with a wide grin on his face, "I kind of like the little guys."</p><p>Dumbledore handed the baby he was holding over to his long time friend and told her, "I think they may be cold. Maybe take them home and get them wrapped up to stop the crying?"</p><p>"Yes... Um... Severus, if you could get the car for us, I would appreciate it."</p><p>"I'll do anything, just as long as I don't have to deal with them," He said as he pointed to the babies on his way out the door.</p><p>Minerva looked down at the two babies she was holding, "If they're going to be stuck like this long enough, we may need to take a trip to Diagon Alley."</p><p>Arthur and Molly Weasley entered the house from the fireplace and were immediately greeted by the sounds of wailing newborns. Minerva was pacing in the kitchen with Ash, Harry had shown up and offered to take Liam, Lupin was upstairs trying to rock Preston to sleep, while Sirius sat on the couch with Sadie in his lap, and Rain and Emmett laying on the corner cushion to his right.</p><p>"Well, hello," Arthur said, a bit surprised by what he was seeing. He turned to Minerva and asked, "I'm not one to judge on how many kids one person has, but you already have six children that are the same age, are you sure you want six more?"</p><p>Molly nudged him, "Arthur."</p><p>Minerva explained, "These are my six children. They decided to consume an aging potion that reverted them into babies."</p><p>Both Weasley's looked shocked. "Don't worry, Snape is working on how to reverse it," Sirius reassured them.</p><p>Molly walked over to the two babies that were laying next to Sirius and handed Rain to Arthur, while she tried to sooth Emmett. "How long have they been crying?" She asked.</p><p>Minerva looked at the grandfather clock and replied, "Almost two hours now. It took me a little longer than I care to admit to send you the letter. We had to deal with getting them warm and cozy first."</p><p>Mrs. Weasley laid the blanket that Emmett was wrapped in on the couch as she explained, "They like being swaddled. Minerva, if you'll come over here, please." The professor made her way from the kitchen and stood beside Molly, watching as she explained how to swaddle a baby. "If you are going out, you'll want to leave the top corner as it is and lay the baby down in the middle of the blanket. Take the right side, fold it over and tuck it under the baby's left side, but leave their arm out. Now take the bottom corner and fold it up, tucking it under the shoulder of the arm that's exposed. Now, fold the left corner of the blanket over and tuck it under the baby."</p><p>Minerva took the blanket covering Ash and laid it out on the couch. She began wrapping the baby, doing her best to make sure the blanket was tight enough to keep her bundled, but not so tight that she was uncomfortable. Despite the amount of wriggling that the youngest of the girls was doing, McGonagall managed to successfully swaddle a baby on her first go. She looked up to see Sirius attempting it, while an irritated Sadie tried to break free.</p><p>"She doesn't seem to like this very much," Sirius told them.</p><p>Molly passed Emmett to Arthur, then took Sadie from Sirius and told him, "Put the blanket down on the couch." Once the blanket was laid out, she returned the fussing newborn to him and said, "Now follow along with me." She said as she motioned for Authur to give Rain to her, causing the infant to cry.</p><p>"Shhh, it's okay," Sirius said to Sadie as he gently held her tiny hand between his thumb and index finger.</p><p>Molly put Rain's blanket down beside Sadie's and carefully laid the baby on top of it, "Follow my lead."</p><p>With the help of Minerva, Molly, and Arthur, Sirius was able to figure out the proper way to swaddle a baby. He picked up a securely wrapped Sadie and said, "That wasn't so hard. How do you feel about that little lady?" Sadie responded with a yawn and he concluded, "I think she's fine with it."</p><p>Lupin appeared at the top of the stairs and asked, "How did you get yours to stop crying?"</p><p>Harry called up to him, "Swaddling."</p><p>"What in the name of Merlin is 'swaddling'?"</p><p>Arthur answered, "It's when you wrap the baby up so they stop crying."</p><p>Lupin made a move toward the stairs and hurried down to the living room, "Alright, show me how to do this."</p><p>The blanket that was once wrapped around Sadie was beginning to come undone and Sirius said, "Actually, I think I've done something wrong."</p><p>Molly motioned for him to set the baby back down and try again and as she began, "I still can not believe that you don't know why to swaddle a baby."</p><p>"I've never been around a baby until recently."</p><p>Lupin approached as he told her, "To be fair, I don't know how to swaddle a baby. I didn't even know that was something you could do until just now."</p><p>Molly gave him a sympathetic look, "Of course now, why would you dear?"</p><p>Snape turned away to hide his grin while Minerva sat and ogled over Ash, leaving Sirius speechless. Harry and Lupin helped each other get the hang of how to wrap the babies up, with Molly standing over their shoulders to correct any mistakes. It took a few tries from Harry, but eventually all six of the babies were swaddled and drifting off to sleep. Minerva, Lupin, and Sirius breathed a sigh of relief as they all sat down on the couch.</p><p>Molly looked over at Harry and finally asked, "Harry, my dear, what are you doing here?"</p><p>"Oh," He responded as he looked from the baby he was holding, then to Minerva. "Well, you see, I was here to tell you that the social worker expedited the paperwork and she's dropping everything off with me tomorrow to have you sign it."</p><p>Minerva raised an eyebrow at him, "Tomorrow? That seemed awfully quick."</p><p>Harry nodded, "We may or may not have a few squibs helping us along."</p><p>Molly asked the other woman, "So you're officially adopting them?"</p><p>"Yes," McGonagall confirmed. "It would appear sooner, rather than later."</p><p>Sirius commented, "Well, hopefully they don't need to meet with us again. I don't know how we're going to explain the sudden lack of eleven year olds."</p><p>The front door opened behind them and Sirius announced, "There is no way to reserve the potion they made."</p><p>"What?" Minerva inquired, not sure she heard her partner correctly.</p><p>"The potion appears to be irreversible. I don't know how they did what they did, but I can not undo it. However, it appears as though they duplicated the ingredients, so the spell will eventually wear off. I don't know how long it will take, but eventually they will be eleven again."</p><p>"Is there a way to make the effects permanent?"</p><p>Snape let out a fake laugh, "You're insane. There's no way I am putting up with six screaming babies for the next however many years until you're ready to let them grow up."</p><p>Lupin shrugged, "They're not so bad once they stop crying." He looked over at Minerva who was caressing the side of Ash's face, "Besides, it looks like Minerva is enjoying this just as much as Sirius."</p><p>Minerva sighed, "Unfortunately I have to agree with Severus on this. We can't keep them this small forever."</p><p>"In any case, you will need to go to Diagon Alley and pick up a few things. You need a pram, formula, clothes, nappies, dummies, maybe a few hats if you plan to take them out in the sun," Molly informed her.</p><p>"They have shops that sell this stuff in Diagon Alley?" Sirius asked.</p><p>"Yes they do. In fact, Luna Lovegood just opened up her own shop next door to Gringotts. She has everything you'll need. If you'd like, I can take you tomorrow."</p><p>"That would be great," Minerva replied.</p><p>Sirius asked another question, "I can come, right?"</p><p>"I'll need help toting them around, so I would appreciate it."</p><p>Snape sat down at the farther end of the couch from anyone holding a baby. Without hesitation, Harry stood up and handed Liam over to him, "I should probably head out. I need to be up early tomorrow."</p><p>Snape reluctantly took the infant from Harry and uneasily sat, holding the baby away from him. Arthur and Molly weren't sure what to make of his reaction, while Harry, Lupin, and Sirius smirked. Minerva made him squirm for a few minutes before she took the baby from him. Molly and Arthur each gave back their babies a short time later and followed Harry's lead in returning home. As they disappeared into a cloud of smoke, Snape got up to fix himself a cup of tea.</p><p>"I don't know why you don't like them, Severus," Lupin started. "They aren't so bad when you get them calmed down."</p><p>"It's awfully quiet when they're not crying," Sirius pointed out. "Very strange to not have children yelling at each other or trying to ride their brooms in the house."</p><p>Minerva nodded, "Hopefully this means I don't have to worry about any of them getting hurt."</p><p>Snape turned to look at her, "I wouldn't get comfortable just yet. Rain has the uncanny ability to hurt herself without trying."</p><p>"Well, she'll just have to wait until tomorrow. I need to get some sleep if we're going shopping tomorrow."</p><p>"What are we going to do about the sleeping arrangements?" Asked Sirius.</p><p>Minerva smiled, "Looks like you and Severus can sleep out here. I'll conjure up a guard rail for your side of the bed and let them sleep with me tonight."</p><p>Snape rolled his eyes, "This should go well."</p><p>Molly Weasley led Minerva, Snape, Sirius, and Lupin down Diagon Alley. They each had a baby resting in a sling across their torso, except Minerva who had decided to keep Rain and Sadie close. The streets were loud and teaming with other magically inclined people, which made the babies a bit fussy. It wasn't until they stepped into Luna's shop that nearly all of them had settled and Minerva was able to deal with Rain's screaming.</p><p>"What's wrong?" Molly asked as she took Sadie and handed her to Sirius.</p><p>Minerva took the newborn out of the sling and replied, "I don't know."</p><p>Snape told them, "For the love of Merlin, she clearly has a sound sensitivity issue. She's autistic. It was probably far too loud for her outside and her brain doesn't know how to process all that sound."</p><p>Sirius raised an eyebrow, "How do you know this?"</p><p>"I did my reading. Didn't you?"</p><p>"Well of course, but I skimmed. I figured we would learn as we go with her since the first chapter told us every child is affected differently."</p><p>"You can't just learn as you go, Sirius."</p><p>Minerva spoke up, "She needs to be someplace quiet then."</p><p>Snape took Rain back from Sirius, despite his objection. He put the baby in the same sling, pulled it up around them, and pointed at it with his wand. Rain wriggled for a few seconds before settling down entirely. The rest of the professors and Molly looked at one another in confusion. Minerva tried to open the sling and look in on the baby, but Snape stopped her.</p><p>"I took away all the sound except your heartbeat and put Sadie in there to keep her company. If anything, it'll keep Sadie calm too. The thing spends most of her time screaming. I don't know how Rain didn't set her off."</p><p>"Severus, how did you know to do all this?" She asked.</p><p>"I told you, I did my reading."</p><p>"Hello everyone" A woman's voice interrupted. Luna Lovegood was standing in the middle of the store with her hand folded in front of her, "What brings you into the shop?"</p><p>Minerva smiled, "Luna Lovegood, how are you?"</p><p>"I'm doing well, thank you." She looked around at the infants being carried and asked, "Whose children are these?"</p><p>"Uh…Well, they're mine.. Luna." Minerva hesitated. "It's a long story, but they-"</p><p>"These are the students she's adopting, but they had a little mishap with an ageing potion," Molly explained. "Do you have the care package ready?"</p><p>Luna smiled, "Come with me Mrs. Weasley."</p><p>As the two women disappeared into the back of the shop, Sirius and Lupin looked around the shop, while Snape followed McGonagall to the front counter. Any time Rain or Sadie squirmed she would look in to make sure they weren't awake. Snape would peak in with her, but never said anything about either of them, leaving Minerva to gawk on her own. By the time Mrs. Weasley had reappeared with Luna and the collection of goods in tote, Sirius and Lupin had managed to snag a few things for the babies.</p><p>Molly thanked Luna as she set down a medium size box, then turned to Minerva and said, "Arthur, the kids, and I wanted to gift these items to you, seeing as you have so much to buy already. Arthur modified this pram for you so that you can fit all six of the children in it." Mrs. Weasley pulled out a buggy that had an oversized bassinet on top to lay them in. "There's also two cots, one for the boys and one for the girls, but they are in pieces in the box." She reached back in and pulled out a large diaper bag, "There's several bottles and cases of formula in here. There's also a month's supply of diapers for each baby."</p><p>"You didn't have to do this," Minerva started.</p><p>"Oh it was no problem. Everyone was so excited when we heard you needed baby items."</p><p>Minerva was taken aback, "Surely you didn't tell them I had a baby."</p><p>Molly chuckled, "Heaven's no. I told them about the mishap and that you needed to stop by and pick up a few things. The boys came in with Fleur and Luna to make sure you have everything you'll need for the first few weeks."</p><p>Sirius nodded at her, "Well that was very kind of them."</p><p>Luna walked toward the register and asked Sirius, "May I ring those up for you, sir?"</p><p>"Oh course, Miss Lovegood." He handed her the bundle of blankets and armfull of onesies he'd taken from the racks and shelves. "What are you up to nowadays, Luna?"</p><p>She smiled at him as she checked the prices of each item, "Oh, you know, a little bit of this and that. Mostly discovering new species of magical creatures, but there's a lot of down time."</p><p>Lupin handed over a few cases of dummies and said, "Two of the children were showing an interest in magical creatures before this happened."</p><p>"Oh really?"</p><p>"Yes. Rain and Sadie were actually spending their afternoons trying to lure in animals and whatnot from the forest. Minnie drew the line at Nifflers."</p><p>An amused giggle escaped Luna, "They managed to get a hold of a Niffler?"</p><p>Sirius shook his head, "Oh no, but they asked if they could have one and she told them no."</p><p>"If they ever are allowed a pet, I think they'd rather enjoy having a Kneazle."</p><p>Minerva jumped into the conversation and told Sirius, "Let me have Emmett so I can put him in the pram."</p><p>Sirius put his arms out and responded, "He's all yours."</p><p>"Thank you. Remus, would you be a dear and put Liam in?"</p><p>Luna handed a large bag with all the items inside it to Sirius and told him, "Good luck. I hope they don't put up too much of a fuss."</p><p>Sirius nodded at her as they began to walk out, "We'll see you around, Luna. Thank you for the pet suggestion."</p><p>Sirius walked into the room to find Snape laying back in the bed with Rain and Liam sleeping on his chest. "I thought you didn't want anything to do with them?"</p><p>"I don't," He started, "I just happen to know that if babies don't get the proper amount of attention, they turn into Jack the Ripper."</p><p>Sirius clutched Sadie closer to him and replied, "That's a bleak way to look at it."</p><p>"He's not wrong," Minerva said as she entered the room and handed Snape two bottles. "They don't do as well if you don't meet their needs. Rain apparently hates being put down and Liam needed a bit of love. I was busy preparing everyone's bottles, so I asked Severus to hold them for me."</p><p>"If you don't like them, then why are you rubbing their backs?" Challenged Sirius and he began stroking the back of Sadie's head.</p><p>"Because if I stop, they scream." He carefully sat up and laid Liam down in his lap while he fed Rain. "So why haven't you bonded with any of the other babies, except Sadie?"</p><p>"I have. In fact, I spent an hour with each of them after we got home. Sadie just happens to like me more than everyone else."</p><p>Minerva chuckled and she picked Ash up out of the crib to feed her, "Don't flatter yourself, Sirius. We all know Sadie likes you just as much as she likes Snape. The two of you are the only ones who can hold her without her screaming her head off. She still has crying fits, but at least they aren't as severe."</p><p>"By the way, did Madam Pomfrey ever get back to you about that?" Snape inquired.</p><p>"I take her in tomorrow to get looked at."</p><p>Sirius gently rested his cheek on the top of Sadie's head, "Hopefully she's not sick."</p><p>Minerva began to pace across the room while Ash ate, "According to the books I've read over the years, she would be letting us know as often as she could if there was any sort of problem. Her bowel movements would also be different."</p><p>"I think I can agree that anything is better than the blowout from earlier."</p><p>Snape glared at him, "Don't remind me."</p><p>They three of them sat and talked while they fed all six of the babies. Minerva paced the room, while Sirius stood in place swaying, and Sirius sat on the bed, feeding them two at a time. Once they were fed, the professors took turns burping, changing diapers, and then dressing them. Even though Snape and Sirius seemed to be enjoying themselves, Minerva wanted to be the one to put them to sleep before they all went to bed. She spent a few minutes rocking Liam and Ash, then Preston and Emmett, and finally Sadie and Rain.</p><p>Even after being rocked, though, Sadie wouldn't stop fussing and her mood was rubbing off on the only other baby who was awake. Snape didn't hesitate to take Rain from Minerva. Both she and Sirius watched on in disbelief as the man they'd known to be cold and bitter, began walking through the house trying to calm down a screaming newborn.</p><p>"Is he feeling alright?" Sirius asked his partner.</p><p>Minerva handed Sadie over to him as she replied, "I assume he's feeling just fine. It's a bit strange, but I suppose even the hardest heart can be melted by a baby."</p><p>"He's been like this all day," Lupin whispered as he stood just outside their bedroom door. "I caught him humming to Sadie."</p><p>"Humming? You're sure it was Severus?"</p><p>"Well, I interrupted him, so I would assume unless someone had consumed a polyjuice potion beforehand, that it was Snape."</p><p>They all heard Snape tell Rain, "Don't listen to them, they're jealous."</p><p>Not wanting to ruin the moment they were watching, Sirius lowered his voice a little more and whispered to Minerva, "You know, I was thinking about something. When they get back to being eleven, maybe we could get them a pet like they were wanting."</p><p>Minerva looked up at him, "They turned themselves into babies. I doubt that warrants a prize."</p><p>"I mean, they managed to brew something Snape couldn't reverse. I think that's pretty impressive. That's not why we should get them a pet, though. A pet would help keep them busy and might prevent another accident like this."</p><p>Lupin replied, "They're very curious children, so I don't doubt that we'll have further issues like this. Little bumps in the road though. A dog other than old Padfoot here might be nice."</p><p>Sirius rolled his eyes, "Well I wasn't considering getting them a dog anyway. Luna Lovegood suggested getting them a Kneazle."</p><p>"Minnie, what do you say to another cat in the house?"</p><p>Minerva looked over her glasses at Lupin, "You think another cat in the house would bother me?"</p><p>Lupin shrugged, "I wasn't sure."</p><p>Sadie was still whimpering when Severus walked over with a less distraught Rain and told Minerva, "Let me see her and you can get Rain to sleep."</p><p>They made the trade off and Snape walked off, speaking to Sadie in a low tone as the infant began to cry over being moved. He made sure she was pulled up into a fetal position against his chest before grabbing one of the blankets that was draped over the back of the couch and wrapped it around her. Sirius and Lupin gave each other a look before returning to their rooms, Minerva following behind Sirius with a smile on her face.</p><p>"He seems to be enjoying himself. I don't think I've ever seen Snape like something before," Sirius told her as he got into bed.</p><p>Minerva got under the blankets in the center of the bed, laying Rain on her chest and pulling the comforter up to the baby's armpits, "He definitely hasn't been treating them like a disease."</p><p>"He didn't want to touch them yesterday. What happened?"</p><p>"I'm not sure." Minerva told him.</p><p>The pair laid in bed until Snape made his way to the room and put both of the girls into their crib next to Ash. Rather than get into bed right away, he checked on each baby to make sure they were all sound asleep before he walked over and turned off the ceiling lamp. All that lit the room were the candles Minerva had lit when the room went dark. Snape crawled into bed and almost as soon as he'd pulled the blanket over his shoulder, the sound of a small cry came from the boy's crib.</p><p>Sirius pulled himself out of bed as another cry came from the girl's crib, "I'll handle this."</p><p>Hermione and Molly showed up the following day to help bathe all six infants. Despite the amount of reading she'd done since the incident happened, she felt more comfortable having someone with experience there to help her. The opportunity to snuggle tiny bundles sounded better than sitting up at the castle, so Hermione had no problem tagging along when she ran into Mrs. Weasley just outside Dumbledore's office. Being an only child, she never got the chance to hold a baby and she would use any excuse for the experience.</p><p>"Alright, Minerva, just make sure the water isn't too hot, nor too cold, and support their necks." Molly took Preston from Hermione and removed his diaper before gently placing him in the right side of the sink. Seeing there was no fussing, she informed the professor, "Sometimes they might not like being bathed, but other times they do like Preston here and stay asleep."</p><p>"Alright," Minerva responded as she took the nappy off of Sadie. The baby wriggled and began to cry as Minerva dipped her into the water. "Please sit still, Sadie," Minerva pleaded.</p><p>"Here, you take Preston, I'll handle this little one," Molly told her as she put her left hand under Sadie's head while supporting Preston's with her right. As Sadie screamed at the women bathing them, Mrs. Weasley told her, "That's enough, let's get you washed up so Hermione can dry you off."</p><p>Sirius, who was looking over the two women's shoulders asked, "Hermione is drying them? I thought-"</p><p>Minerva looked over her shoulder, "Don't worry, you'll get to help too."</p><p>Molly cupped some water into her hand and poured it onto Sadie's head as she explained, "You can do this with a cup if you'd like, but I prefer using my hands. Just get their hair wet, then take some baby shampoo, and lather it." She began gently massaging Sadie's head, activating the suds from the viscous liquid. "Now, if they decide to move their-" She lifted up her hand to find that every bit of Sadie's dark locks had fallen out and clung to the soap. She addressed the multiple gasps in the room and assured everyone, "I'm sure it will grow back."</p><p>Sirius said in a quiet tone, "Her hair is all gone."</p><p>Minerva asked, "Are you sure she's alright?"</p><p>Molly nodded, "Minerva, I'm certain. Poppy would have known something was wrong when you took her in to be seen."</p><p>"I'm sorry, I've just never seen that happen before."</p><p>"I haven't either, but I've heard that it can, on occasion. Every baby is different, so she might be the only one to lose all her hair."</p><p>"She can join the other bald ones," Snape replied as he looked in the direction of the infants laying on a section of the counter that Sirius cast a cushioning charm on.</p><p>Lupin popped up from his room a few minutes later and announced, "According to this book, it's common for a baby to lose their hair. It will grow back eventually."</p><p>"Obviously, Remus. She wasn't bald as an eleven year old."</p><p>Molly rinsed off the baby, then motioned for Hermione to come take her. The teenager was happy to oblige as she wrapped Sadie up in a fluffy towel and made her way over to the couch. Once Minerva had finished bathing Preston, she took him and meandered over to Hermione to check on how she was handling the task of dressing a newborn. Sirius and Snape bathed Liam and Emmett, leaving Molly to bathe Ash and Rain with Remus.</p><p>"They're so small," Hermione commented as she sat back with Sadie resting on her shoulder.</p><p>Lupin finished diapering Rain and threw a blanket over her as he replied, "I think they're growing by the day. This one was definitely not this long yesterday."</p><p>Snape rolled his eyes, "They're supposed to grow."</p><p>"I know that. They just seem to be growing faster than I thought babies were supposed to."</p><p>Minerva stepped into the conversation, "I thought the same thing, Miss Granger." The blanket that was covering Sadie's bald head fell and she asked Snape, "Can you go get a few of the bonnets from the top drawer of their dresser?"</p><p>As he stood up, he asked, "What colors?"</p><p>"I don't think the colors matter. I just forgot to set them out before we gave them their baths."</p><p>Sadie arched her back as she stretched, reaching up to the top of her head with both of her hands. Hermione took it as a signal that the baby's head was cold and promptly placed the blanket up over her and said, "I'm sorry, Sadie. There you are."</p><p>"Where are the softer ones we picked up from Diagon Alley?" Severus called from the bedroom.</p><p>Sirius answered, "They're all in the wash."</p><p>"Alright." He reappeared and hurried over, handing over a small cap to everyone except Mrs. Weasley. "Rain gets fussy if you put the rougher fabrics on her. She has a full head of hair, so she should be fine as long as you keep her head covered with her blanket."</p><p>Molly looked impressed, "I must say, I didn't expect you to be the baby expert in the house."</p><p>He sat back and told her, "I'm not. I just don't want to listen to her scream."</p><p>"In any case, I'm impressed."</p><p>Minerva was about to add to the conversation when Liam spit up all over Sirius and caused the room to erupt into laughter. He held the baby away from him as if it were diseased as he marched to the sink to clean the both of them off. It wasn't the first time one of them had puked on him and it probably wouldn't be the last, but it still made him feel a bit queasy. Luckily, he hadn't fully dressed Liam yet, so all he had to do was wipe off his shirt and the baby's torso, mouth, and chin before returning to the circle. They sat and talked with one another until Molly had to take Hermione back to the school for dinner.</p><p>After they left, Severus decided to get started on dinner. He used a few charms to get the meal prepped and cooking while he helped Minerva prepare the bottles for all six infants. Lupin and Sirius stepped in to fix all four adults' plates. As they sat around the table and talked about their day, the babies babbled at each other, mimicking their caregivers. The sun had completely gone away by the time the dinner table was cleared and everyone began getting ready for bed. Lupin turned in first, followed by Snape, then Sirius, and finally Minerva after she got the final baby to sleep. The house fell silent, which was a nice change for the professors. They had a long few weeks of teaching ahead of them and they needed the rest.</p>
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<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter Eleven</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you everyone for your patience with this delayed update. With the holidays coming up and my state still having to deal with the aftermath of the wildfires, I have been busy and haven't had much time to write. I am hoping to get some time this week to write more, but it may take me a while to get caught up and able to upload weekly again. Sorry for the delay everyone! Have a good rest of your week!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sirius paced around the room as he bounced a fussy Rain. The students had gone from being newborns to a month old in just under a week. It complicated things as far as how childcare would work, but they were managing. Their biggest hurdle would be happening over the next couple of days. Lupin’s transformation would be taking place later that night, which would leave Sirius up to the task of teaching up at the castle. They hadn’t found a solid plan yet, but talks of letting Dumbledore tackle some baby time had crossed all their minds.</p><p>	“Please stop crying,” Sirius begged, “I’ll give you anything you want if you just stop crying.”</p><p>	The sound of footsteps snuck up behind him and he spun around to see Minerva draping her robe over the back of one of the dining chairs. She reached out to take the baby from him and he quickly obliged. Rain was a little warm, but the professor didn’t think it was anything to be overly worried about.</p><p>	“How long has she been crying like this?” She asked.</p><p>	“I’m not sure. She started after everyone left.”</p><p>	Rain let out a pained cry that resulted in a weak whimper, followed by silent wailing, and then a loud scream. Minerva held the baby close and began to rock her as she stroked the side of her face with her index finger. In the corner of the room Sadie had started to fuss and Sirius responded to give his partner some space. The remaining four infants seemed to be in better spirits as they laid on their communal blanket in front of the sectional.</p><p>	“There there, Sadie,” Sirius said as he laid the baby against his shoulder. “Look, your mummy’s home.” He turned so Sadie’s face was pointed in Minerva’s direction. “See her?”</p><p>	Minerva walked closer to them and reached out to rub the back of Sadie’s hand before making her way back to where she’d been standing nearing the dining room table. The pair tried to soothe the crying babies, but nothing seemed to work. Sadie eventually cried herself to sleep, but Rain wouldn’t give in.</p><p>	“I’ll make her a bottle. Maybe she’ll feel better with something in her belly,” Sirius suggested as he began pulling a bottle out from one of the cupboards.</p><p>	“Sirius, does she seem warmer to you now?” Minerva asked as she approached him, feeling the baby’s forehead.</p><p>	Rain’s entire body was radiating more heat than it should and he told her, “Maybe a little. How about you take her to Madam Pompfrey and I’ll get everyone here ready to make a trip up to the castle.”</p><p>	Minerva quickly swaddled Rain, put her robe back on, and headed out. Sirius looked around the room and tried to think of the fastest way to get everyone ready and into the car. He tackled changing and swaddling Sadie first, then put her in the stroller. Next he wrangled the rest of the babies into warmer outfits. Once they were all dressed, he struggled to swaddle each of them before putting them into the same stroller and making his way outside.. The car was already waiting and ready in front when he shut and locked the front door. The passenger door opened for his as he approached and he quickly buckled in the bassinet after removing it from the stroller.</p><p>	“Alright, is everyone ready?” He asked before closing the door and running around to the driver side to head to the castle.</p><p>	The drive there seemed to take much less time than it usually did. Perhaps he’d driven to and from the school enough that now that distance didn’t seem so long. When they made it out of the forest, he could see Snape standing in the main archway that led from the path to Hagrids into the school. The car stopped and Sirius got out.</p><p>	“Minerva is still with Rain,” Snape told him.</p><p>	“How is she?”</p><p> </p><p>	“She began to cry when Madam Pomfrey took her from Minerva, but I’ve heard all new mothers do that.”</p><p>	“I was talking about Rain, Severus.”</p><p>	Snape walked around and took the bassinet out of the passenger seat, “I know, but Rain handled everything better than Minerva.”</p><p>	Sirius reached into the back seat from the driver side and got the bottom half of the pram out, “What’s wrong with her?”</p><p>	Snape put the bassinet into the stroller as he responded, “Ear infection. A drop in each ear and she’s already doing much better.” As they began to walk toward the hospital wing, Severus added, “Pomfrey said she’ll probably run a fever for the next couple of days, but she gave us some drops to put in her milk to help keep her temperature down and get rid of the infection.”</p><p>	“So she’ll be better in a couple of days?”</p><p>	“Yes. Poppy wants to keep her for the rest of the day for observation. I can take the children back home once we’ve all had a chance to visit, if you’d like to stay up here with her.”</p><p>	“Thank you, Severus. I could use a bit of a break.”</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	The house was still lit up inside as Sirius and Minerva walked up to the front door. Rain was sleeping peacefully in McGonagall’s arms, her pacifier bobbing. It wasn’t much of a surprise that Severus was still up, since he was in charge of getting all five babies to bed. Any other night and he would have had help from Remus, but Lupin was out doing werewolf things due to the full moon. The pair entered the house, however, to find that everyone was still awake and Snape had them laid out around the floor in front of the sectional, making funny noises and faces to make them laugh.</p><p>	A giggle could be heard coming from Ash and Sirius commented, “Changed your mind about them, have you?</p><p>	Snape shot up, Ash in tote as he began walking to get a swaddling blanket off the dining table, “I don’t know what you mean.”</p><p>	“Sirius, can you take Rain and put her in bed?” Minerva asked as she carefully handed the sleeping infant to her partner. As he made his way to the room, she turned to Snape, “How were they?”</p><p>	“They weren’t too unbearable,” He responded, “Sadie cried herself to sleep a couple of times, but I think she’s calmed down a bit.”</p><p>	Minerva walked over and picked Emmett up from where he was laying, “With their accelerated ageing, hopefully Sadie grows out of her colic soon.” She awkwardly bent over to pick Preston up with her free arm as she added, “I’m not in any rush for them to get back to being eleven, but I wouldn't mind hearing them babble.”</p><p>	Snape didn’t get the chance to respond before Sirius quietly announced, “She’s out like a light.”</p><p>	“Good. Hopefully she sleeps through the night,” Minerva told him.</p><p>	Sirius picked Sadie up and sat on the couch, “Alright, young lady, we need to get you to sleep, okay? Minimal fussing. I want to see those eyes closed within the hour.”</p><p>	“We all know barking commands at her like that isn’t going to work,” Minerva told him as she sat rocking Preston to sleep while she wriggled her fingers in front of Emmett’s face to keep him occupied.</p><p>	Sadie let out a whimper and Snape told him in a sarcastic tone, “You’ve upset her.”</p><p>	“I think she’ll forgive me.”</p><p>	The infant squirmed and he laid her up against his shoulder so that her head was against his neck. As he moved back to the corner closest to him and kicked up his feet, Snape sat at the end of the couch with Ash half asleep in his arms. By the time Minerva got up to put Preston in the boy’s crib, Snape was able to exchange the baby he’d managed to put to sleep for Emmett. Luck seemed to be on their side as McGonagall came back out to find Liam had fallen asleep on his own while laying on the floor. She picked him up and cuddled with him on the couch, running her index finger along the back of his hand, smelling the top of his head, and rubbing his back as she waited for the two men in the room to signal that Sadie and Emmett were finally ready to be put in bed.</p><p>	“I think Emmett finally closed his eyes,” Snape whispered.</p><p>	Sirius could feel Sadie still moving and told them, “I think this one is gonna need a few more minutes.”</p><p>	Minerva leaned over from where she was sitting to get a look at Sadie’s face, “She’s almost there. Just keep rubbing her back.”</p><p>	“Is it just me or do they all seem to be cooperating really well tonight?” Sirius inquired.</p><p>	Snape growled, “Don’t jinx it. I’m not spending three more hours trying to get them calmed down enough to sleep. I have to head up to the castle to meet with a student early in the morning and I’d like to be able to get a few hours of sleep before I go.”</p><p>	“Which student?”</p><p>	“Storm. She’s a first year Slytherin.”</p><p>	McGonagall asked, “Isn’t that the girl who almost got put in Gryffindor?”</p><p>	He nodded, “Yes and she’s quite the prodigy and I wanted to have a discussion with her about her talent.”</p><p>	Sirius raised an eyebrow, “You’re showing a particular interest in this girl?”</p><p>	“It’s not unheard of.”</p><p>	“No, but it is curious.” He passed Sadie off to Minerva, hoping she would have more luck getting the baby to sleep.</p><p>	“Her skills are above average, but I’ve noticed she excels as transfiguration. If she agrees to it, we may be able to help her improve her skill.”</p><p>	Minerva nodded at him, “She certainly has the most potential I’ve seen this year.” She looked down to see Sadie struggling to stay awake, “I think we can head to bed now. She’ll be asleep in no time.</p><p>They all quietly tiptoed as they made their way back to the bedroom. Sadie stayed asleep, her arms flopping back as Minerva gently placed her to the left of Ash. Rather than immediately crawl into bed, Sirius stood between the two cribs to make sure everyone was sleeping soundly before he turned in. Like every night, McGonagall went into the bathroom to set out everything she would need when she got up in the morning, but this time adding Rain’s ear drops amongst the small number of items she would be using to bathe the students. She made sure to count the towels on the counter to ensure she had all six that she would need in the morning.</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * <br/>Minerva woke up to the sound of Rain’s crying. She looked to her left to see Snape had already got out of bed. She rolled over onto her right side to find Sirius was also gone. She sat up and glanced at the cots across the room to find that both of them were empty. Grabbing her bathrobe, the professor walked out into the common area to find Snape bouncing a fussing baby in his arms. The cry sounded similar to Rain, but the infant he was holding had to be at least six months old. </p><p>Looking around the dining room table, five more babies that looked to be about the same age were sitting in highchairs, eating small bowls of baby cereal or drinking bottles of milk. Preston was the dead giveaway to her that these were her babies. For a moment Minerva had forgotten about the children’s accelerated growth rate. It must have been the exhaustion of teaching full time while trying to raise six kids from infants. The adoption had already gone through, but the household’s busy schedule had left Minerva little time to celebrate. Her children were aging a month nearly every week and the milestones seemed to be happening much closer together than she thought they would.</p><p>“I think she has another ear infection,” Snape told her. As Minerva walked over and felt the baby’s head, Snape added, “She’s been tugging at the right one a bit more than the left, but I think both of them are bothering her.”</p><p>	Minerva put her hands out and Rain immediately reached for her as she cried, “Baba!”</p><p>	“She hasn’t eaten anything yet?” The woman asked, rubbing the back of Rain’s head.</p><p>	Snape shook his head, “She refused to eat, we’ve been giving her a bottle with water in it to keep her hydrated.”</p><p>	Minerva put her hand over Rain’s right ear with her free hand, “It feels pretty warm. Can one of you go get me her-”</p><p>	“They’re right here,” Lupin announced as he walked up behind her, pulling the dropper from it’s container and dispensing a drop of the liquid into Rain’s left ear. “Hopefully we caught it early enough this time that she doesn’t have to worry about her ears hurting for too long.” He let more of the serum drip onto Rain’s right ear before setting the glass vial onto the counter and asking the baby, “Is that better?”</p><p>	The baby rubbed her eyes as she turned her head away and rested it against Minerva in response to the man’s question. A clatter drew everyone’s attention in the direction of the highchairs where Liam had knocked him empty bowl onto the floor, then clapped at his achievement. Sirius lunged as Sadie reached for hers, putting it on the table before lifting her out of her seat.</p><p>	“I think that’s quite enough,” He told her as he set her down.</p><p>	“They’re feeding themselves already? I thought that wasn’t supposed to happen for another month or two?”</p><p>	“Liam and Sadie are the only two that can feed themselves. Sadie probably still needs help, but she screams at you any time you try to help.”</p><p>	Snape walked over and took Liam out of his seat, then picked up the bowl, “I assume he’s done with eating for now. I’ll ward the floor in front of the couch so that he can’t roll too far after I clean him up a bit.”</p><p>	Sirius followed Snape over with Sadie to do the same and reminded him, “Just make sure to use the cushioning charm as well.”</p><p>	“I know. I’m not an idiot.”</p><p>	“I only mentioned it because I forgot last time and Emmett almost hit his head when he fell over.”</p><p>	Snape took a damp cloth and quickly wiped down Liam’s hands, then face, and the bit of food he got in his hair. Sirius did his best to clean up Sadie, but the baby refused to sit still long enough to get her face completely clean, so he gave up and laid her in the designated play area with Liam. He stood and watched the two of them interact with each other while Minerva tended to Rain and Lupin worked on getting the remaining four students fed with Snape.</p><p>	Once the morning feeding was done, the adults sat around and watched over the students until they needed to put them down for an afternoon nap. Luckily for them, the six babies were sleep training, so all Minerva had to do was put them in their cots and then leave the room. She would check back on them later, but for the time being she needed to try and get the house cleaned up and go over the schedule for the next couple of weeks.</p><p>	“School is almost over, what are we going to do with them if they aren’t back to being their eleven year old selves before it ends?” Lupin asked the group as they sat around the table drinking tea while a broom swept itself across the floor behind him.</p><p>	Minerva put her cup down and suggested, “Dumbledore has already made mention of them possibly having to repeat their first year, but I think we can get them caught up and give them their final exams before the next school year starts.”</p><p>	Snape scoffed, “That’s only if the effects of the potion have faded off by the end of the school year.”</p><p>	“They’re already at least six months old,” Sirius pointed out. “The potion may be wearing off quicker than we think.”</p><p>	“Hopefully this teaches them not to mess with aging potions anymore.”</p><p>	Lupin asked, “What were they trying to accomplish anyway?”</p><p>	“That’s something we’ll have to ask them at a later date,” Minerva replied.</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	Snape was woken up by the sound of knocking on the bedroom door. He sat up and looked toward the two cots set at the foot of the bed. None of the toddlers seemed to be awake. He carefully got out of bed and made his way to the door. As he cracked it open, a light shined in through the small gap. Lupin was standing with Harry and Hermione. The look on their faces told him they had something important to talk about.</p><p>He stepped out, making sure to close the door behind him, and asked, “What is going on?”</p><p>“We’re sorry to be waking you up at this hour,” Hermione started, “But I think I may have a solution to reverse the effects of the aging potion an-.”</p><p>“I’m impressed Miss Granger,” He interrupted as he walked over and sat down at the dining table. He sighed and admitted, “I’ve known how to reverse it for a while, but decided this would be a good learning experience for them.” As they all stared at him he added, “Besides, I think they’re more tolerable this way and if we didn’t happen to defeat the Death Eaters, they would come back looking for children, not babies. It’s a win win scenario.”</p><p>Hermione looked a little jealous as she tried to one up the professor, “I think I found a way to find out how the children got here.”</p><p>“How?” McGonagall’s voice came from the door of her bedroom. They slowly turned to look at her as she approached them, “And don’t think I’m not upset with you over lying to us, Severus.”</p><p>“Well,” Hermione started, “I think we found a way to go back to the day each of them were born and follow them back here to Hogwarts.”</p><p>Harry added, “It may even give us answers as to why the Death Eaters have shown so much interest in them.”</p><p>Minerva looked at Hermione with a glimmer of hope and told her, “Let us know what you need.”</p><p>	The student dug a piece of parchment out of her pocket with a list of ingredients, “We need to bond them to us with this spell and then use this one to take us to their location. Wherever they happen to be when they’re born, we’ll be sent there. It should put us at the safest possible distance and let us know when we’re within seven or eight meters.” She pointed to the list at the top left of the page, then slid it down and the lower left, “We also need to use this potion to keep us from aging while we’re gone. I anticipate this will take a lot longer than just a few hours.”</p><p>	Snape got up and began walking to the kitchen cupboard where he kept his ingredients, “I think I have everything on that list in this cupboard.”</p><p>	Sirius appeared from the bedroom, his eyes barely open, “What’s going on?”</p><p>	Lupin answered, “We’re going to find out where the children came from.”</p><p>	“Are we really?”</p><p>	Minerva nodded as Hermione explained everything again. Sirius then inquired, “Doesn’t someone need to stay here to look after them?”</p><p>	Hermione looked disappointed, “I didn’t think about that.”</p><p>	McGonagall asked, “Are you sure this will work, Miss Granger?”</p><p>	Hermione shifted uncomfortably, “No I’m not, but what have we got to lose?”</p><p>	The older woman sighed, “How long do you think this will take?”</p><p>	“If one of us remains here, it will only seem like a couple of days, at the most. Truth be told I’m not exactly sure. I can guarantee that it will seem like years to anyone who goes. That's why we need to take the anti aging potion.”</p><p> 	Snape told her, “I don’t know how long this will last-”</p><p>	Harry clarified, “It should theoretically last the entire time we are gone, if we drink it before we go back.”</p><p>	“Alright, then who is staying?”</p><p>	Everyone looked around the room at one another. They all wanted to go to help find answers, but they knew someone needed to stay and look after the babies. There was also the conundrum of one child being left out of the mix when everyone left. After thinking about it, they decided it wouldn’t matter how many people stayed, they just needed to know how the children got to the school. If they were all friends before arriving, their paths would cross. If need be, they could repeat the process.</p><p>“So it’s decided,” Harry announced, “Hermione and I will stay here to look after the children. Professor McGonagall will take Snape, Sirius, and Remus with her.”</p><p>Minerva took her portion of the liquid from the cauldron and drank it. “If anything happens before we get back you go straight-”</p><p>Harry nodded, “To Dumbledore. Don’t worry about us, Professor. We’ll be fine.”</p><p>	Feeling a bit anxious, she hugged the pair that were staying, then said goodbye to each of the sleeping toddlers. When she was ready, she and the three men that were tasked with locating the children went outside into the clearing. Hermione and Harry watched as they used the spell that would take them where they needed to be. The large flash of light seemed to die out almost as soon as it appeared, taking all of the sound with it for a moment or two. The two friends stood at the window, looking out as if they expected them to be right back. Neither of them moved until the whimper of a toddler called them back and they began their duties of looking after the professor’s kids.</p>
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<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry this chapter is a little short. I wanted to get it uploaded before Halloween, since I'll likely be busy from now until the first day of November. Since November is NaNoWriMo, my uploads may stay inconsistent, but I'm hoping the next month will do the opposite and encourage me to write even more. Stay safe everyone and have a good Halloween!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It took significantly less time than Hermione had predicted. Within a few hours after leaving, Minerva returned with Snape, Severus, and Lupin. All four of them looked shaken and the woman all but suffocated the toddlers that had woken up shortly after her departure. She sat in the middle of the living room floor and made sure to hold each one of them as the men who went with her pulled Harry and Hermione aside to tell them what happened.</p><p>	“We have a rather serious problem,” Lupin told them.</p><p>	“What?” Harry inquired.</p><p>	“He’s back. The Dark Lord. We watched him follow the children through a portal.”</p><p>	“Voldemort is back?” Harry asked for clarification.</p><p>	Snape excused himself, “I need to go alert Dumbledore.”</p><p>	Sirius followed behind him as they each grabbed a handful of floo powder, “You’re not going alone. </p><p>	As the two men vanished from the fireplace, Lupin continued, “I don’t even know if I believe what we just witnessed.” He slowed down to gather his thoughts. “We arrived at Hogwarts. It was 1951.”</p><p>	Hermione looked puzzled, “Did it not work?”</p><p>	“Oh no, Miss Granger.” Lupin stopped to try and calm himself. They hadn’t noticed before, but he was shaking pretty bad. “Everything worked accordingly. However, we assumed the children were from our time.”</p><p>	Harry seemed just as baffled as Hermione, “Are they not?”</p><p>	Lupin placed his hand on the young man’s shoulder, “They’re not even from our reality.”</p><p>	“How is that possible? The time turner-”</p><p>	“The time turner was able to send us back in time, but the spells we used sent us to them in another reality. One where Minerva happened to be their biological mother.”</p><p>	“What?” Hermione asked, sounding just as shocked as Harry looked.</p><p>	The professor nodded, “When we arrived, we came across a younger version of Minerva. She was dating a boy named Thomas MacMillan. Yes, of the MacMillan’s. He got her pregnant just before the school year started. After she gave birth to Liam, they moved into a small house in Hogsmeade. She had Rain and just before she had Sadie, a woman showed up from Romania. Preston’s biological parents are the ones who helped start the sanctuary Charlie works at.”</p><p>	Harry asked, “The one in Romania?”</p><p>	“The very same. His mom showed up a few months before Sadie was born. Apparently she had been asking around to a family to take Preston and Minerva told Dumbledore to let her know they would adopt him. A little while later she had Ashe and Emmett, who happen to be twins.” He paused to let them take in all the information he’d just shared.</p><p>	“He’s dead,” Minerva told them from where she was sitting, holding Preston as tightly to her as she could. “He killed Thomas and tried to kill the children. I sent them here to protect them. I think the reason they have memories of being adults is because I tried to replace their old memories with new ones to make them forget about everything, but not each other. Something must have happened during the process and they have these memories of a life they couldn’t have possibly lived yet.”</p><p>	Dumbledore apparated into the room they were all occupying and asked Minerva, “Is it true?”</p><p>	Minerva, who had been fighting tears, simply nodded before telling him, “We need to find a better way to hide them. He knows where we are.”</p><p>	The headmaster told Harry and Hermione, “You two come see when you’re done here. I need to have a word with you.” He looked at his long time friend and reassured her, “We’ll find a way to fix this.”</p><p>	Without another word, he apparated out of the room, leaving Minerva to clutch her children while Lupin, Harry, and Hermione talked amongst themselves until Sirius and Snape returned. It took a while, but eventually both men walked in from the front door with a few books, some potion supplies, Neville Longbottom, and even Madam Hooch. The school’s flying instructor had spent time fighting in both wars and was well enough equipped to help move the children.</p><p>	“Who should I take with me?” Rolanda asked McGonagall.</p><p>	The other woman was confused, “What do you mean?”</p><p>	“Right. I suppose they wouldn’t have had the chance to speak with you about this yet.”</p><p>	Snape told her, “We decided it will be safer to have you and the children up at the castle. I know you’ve enjoyed living here, but we will have an easier time keeping them safe if we have more people close by.”</p><p>	Minerva nodded, “It’s almost summer time. I suppose we would have made the change to live there during the break anyway.”</p><p>	Rolanda asked, “Would you like some help getting everything together?”</p><p>	Hermione walked over and told the professors, “I’ll keep an eye on them while you get everything you need.”</p><p>	Minerva gave the student a brief and gentle squeeze, “Thank you for your help, Hermione.”</p><p>	“Of course, Professor.”</p><p>	Madam Hooch was gathering up the blankets and clothes that Minerva had sitting on the dining table, waiting to be folded and put away. Minerva handed her a large diaper bag that had an extension charm on it, leaving plenty of space for them to pack everything. Without missing a beat, Rolanda tapped the bag when they were done packing and it disappeared. It would show up in Snape's office, where he had the door warded. Minerva went upstairs to pack clothes and shoes once they reverted the students back to being eleven years old. With the summer break coming up, she knew they would be spending a lot of time outside, helping the children get caught up on all their schooling. She knew they would need every piece of clothing they owned that was summer appropriate. Luckily for the current situation, their selection was limited, which meant less packing and a family trip to Diagon Alley.</p><p>Instead of following her colleague and friend up to the other rooms, Rolanda stayed downstairs with Hermione and helped look after the children. At one point Minerva looked over the balcony to find the flying instructor comforting Rain, who’d woken up feeling a bit cranky. Minerva had never seen the other woman with a baby before, so it was a little surprising to see. Even after returning to the packing she could hear Rolanda talking to calm the crying toddler. Of course Snape eventually felt the need to step in and give her pointers on the best way to settle Rain. Before disrupting what was going on downstairs, Minerva tapped the suitcase full of clothes to send it away.</p><p>“Everything for the children is packed,” Minerva announced as she made her way back down to everyone.<br/>Lupin told her, “Sirius packed clothes for you, Severus, and himself. I packed my bag as well.”</p><p>“Good. Where are they?”</p><p>	Sirius kissed her on the cheek as he walked by her, “Already waiting at the castle, dear. I’ll take Emmett and Preston. Remus will take Sadie and Liam.”</p><p>	Lupin tipped his head toward his friend in confirmation as he walked over and picked up the two toddlers he was told to get. The pair stepped outside where four Bluebottle brooms were propped up against the side of the house. As they flew off toward the school, Madam Hooch and Minerva bundled up Ash and Rain before mounting their brooms. Caught off guard once again, professor McGonagall watched as Rolanda easily put Ash into her harness. It took Minerva a few tries to get any of them into one, but Hooch managed to do it on the first try.</p><p>	As they flew up and over the trees, Minerva said, “You do very well with babies, Rolanda.”</p><p>	“Is that so? I felt a bit rusty.”</p><p>	“Rusty?”</p><p>	“Well it’s been several decades since I’ve had to look after an infant.” Minerva’s puzzled look earned her an explanation from her friend. “I was married briefly in the thirties. Ronaldo and I had a daughter in 1931. Genevieve.”</p><p>“Rolanda, you never mentioned any of this.”</p><p>The woman smiled, but there was a sting behind it. “I know. That’s because she was stillborn.”</p><p>	“Rolanda I-”</p><p>	“It’s alright, Minerva. Honestly. I don’t talk about it because no one knew. We met, got married, and had a baby all in the same year. It was love at first sight and we thought we were destined to be together.”</p><p>	As they approached the school and Minerva was still processing the story the Madam had told her on the way to Hogwarts. She watched on in disbelief, trying to make sense of everything in her head as they rounded the final corner to McGonagall’s office. Rolanda stopped dead in her tracks, causing Minerva to run into her. The professor poked her head around the flying instructor to find a student had nearly collided with them.</p><p>	“What are you doing out of bed, dear?” Minerva asked.</p><p>	The girl stammered, “I-I’m sorry.”</p><p>	She noticed the girl looked a little dazed and like she’d been crying. Recognizing the signs of a nightmare, McGonagall handed rain to Rolanda and reached out to try and guide the girl back to her room. Her plan was to calm her down along the way. Without warning, the girl recoiled hard enough to fall to the ground as she let out a loud shriek. As Rain began to cry, Madam Hooch made a B-line for their original destination while Minerva stayed back to help the student who was scrambling to her feet. Minerva put her hands up to show she wasn’t a threat, but the girl turned and sprinted away.</p><p>	“I’ll be back!” Minerva called to Rolanda as she leapt into her feline form and ran after the girl.</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>It had been a few months since Minerva discovered Storm Malfoy wandering through the halls after a horrific nightmare. She’d brought the girl back to her classroom, seeing as there were no other first year girls from Slytherin to keep her company. After some consideration, she concluded that the best thing she could do was look after the girl for the next few weeks until summer break. It was perfect, because Snape had finished brewing a potion to reverse the aging on the students the following day. Unfortunately Minerva had to face the task of informing the students about the information they obtained while they were still under the effects of their potion.</p><p>	They were all shocked to learn they were McGonagall’s biological children from another reality and Lord Voldemort had killed their father during a duel in which he had tried to kidnap them so that he could use them for their powers. Snape, Sirius, and Lupin did their best to remove the memory block that had been put in place by their mother, but it would take some time for them to get all their memories back. As best they could figure, the other Minerva tried to erase and replace their memories so that they would still have each other, but wouldn’t be in danger of Voldemort coming after them. She wasn’t planning on him following them through time and space, but he did.</p><p>	Each day that passed, the children’s power restored to what it was before they were flung from their reality and it became abundantly clear as to why the Dark Lord was hoping to recruit them for his army. They were a lot more powerful than other wizards their age and Minerva suddenly found herself in the position she’d witnessed her alternate self trying to maintain while they were tracking down the children. They were fast learners and great at thinking on their feet. Half the time they would come up with a plan that was certain to fail, but they somehow managed to avoid near disaster every time.</p><p>	On top of looking out for her own children, Minerva now felt compelled to keep an eye on Storm Malfoy. She knew the girl had a gift for transfiguration, but the child kept to herself and stayed out of trouble to the point where she almost avoided making any sort of contact with anyone. There were a few nights between the time their paths crossed and the start of summer break that the professor got the distinct feeling there was something more to this particular student, other than the fact that she was the child of Lucius and Narcissa. She was nothing like her older brother and Minerva’s own children had even seemed to grow fond of the girl before they had to tell her goodbye at the end of the school year.</p><p>	“Mom, is she here yet?” Sadie asked as she ran up behind Minerva with Rain.</p><p>	Minerva turned her attention from the path in front of her to her daughter, “Not yet, sweetie.”</p><p>	Rain looked up at her mom from under the umbrella she was holding as she took a step closer and inquired, “Can we go out to the end of the path?”</p><p>	“As long as you don’t leave my line of sight.”</p><p>	The two girls looked at each other excitedly before running down to the end of the path. Within a few minutes the other children had followed and were all standing under the one umbrella. Occasionally Minerva would see one of them step out to let the rain fall on them, but then quickly return to the safety of the umbrella.</p><p>	“They’re getting better with their magic,” Rolanda said as she approached Minerva.</p><p>	McGonagall nodded, “It would appear so. I never thought I’d see the day when someone put an extension charm on their umbrella.”</p><p>	“How long do you think it will take before one of them gets sick of being cold and adds another charm?”</p><p>	“Oh trust me, that was likely the first charm they put on it. Rain likes the cold, but she also likes being able to get some place warm as soon as possible. She sneaks them into the pockets of my coats and the inside of my robes.”</p><p>	Lupin walked up and asked, “Any sign of the students?”</p><p>	“Not yet.”</p><p>	Rolanda added, “Hopefully they get here soon. Rain and Sadie seemed overly excited to see Storm.”</p><p>	Minerva confirmed, “Rain mentioned her a lot over the summer break. I think she’s just excited to have a friend that doesn’t mind her being quiet.”</p><p>	Their conversation was cut short when Snape came into view from the edge of the walkway, the carriages slowly creeping up behind him. He continued making his way toward the school, but then stopped when he caught a glimpse of Storm amongst the crowd of students. Minerva’s children called and waved to their newest friend as Snape escorted her to them. All of them turned to follow the professor up the path to the school. Minerva smiled as she watched Rain gesture at the blonde girl walking alongside her.</p><p>	“She seems overly excited to see her,” Rolanda said.</p><p>	Lupin chuckled, “She definitely has a soft spot for the Malfoy girl.”</p><p>	Snape stepped up to his partner before anyone else could speak a word and told her, “I need to speak with you and Rolanda. Now.”</p><p>	Minerva nodded and instructed her kids, “Go back to my office with Remus, please.”</p><p>	“But mom, we-”</p><p>	She stopped Rain from finishing her complaint, “You need to help get Storm settled in first since she’ll be staying with us. Besides, the rain is only going to get worse, there’s not much you would be able to do outside anyhow.”</p><p>	Rain sighed, “Fine.”</p><p>	Snape didn’t hesitate to lead the two women to his office. Once he knew they were out of earshot of anyone hearing, he told them, “The Malfoy’s are abusing Storm.”</p><p>	Rolanda took a couple of quick steps to get caught up with her friend so she could look him in the eye when she asked, “How do you know?”</p><p>	They rounded the corner of the hall that sat outside his classroom and he replied, “Because I witnessed it happen with my own two eyes.”</p><p>	Minerva waited until they were in the classroom and the door was shut before letting her emotions get the better of her, “Why didn’t you do something?”</p><p>	“Like what, Minnie?” He sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair, “If I’d try to take on Lucius right then and there, it would have been a disaster. I couldn’t just take her and run.”</p><p>	“You should have!”</p><p>	“I know!” Snape shouted as he turned and shot daggers at Minerva with his eyes.</p><p>	“Then why didn’t you, Severus?! She is a child! She can’t defend herself and if this has been going on for long enough, that would explain why she doesn’t speak very much and why she doesn’t like anyone touching her.”</p><p>	Snape growled, “If I could have brought her back with me, don’t you think I would have?”</p><p>	Rolonda stepped between them and said, “We can’t change what has already happened, but we can do something to prevent it from happening again.”</p><p>	Minerva fumed to the room as she responded, “We can send them to Azkaban.”</p><p>	“I can’t believe I’m the one telling you this, but let’s not be rash,” Snape warned. “If we aren’t careful, things could get worse for the girl.”</p><p>	“We need to go speak with Dumbledore. Something has to be done,” Minerva told the other two as she turned on her heels and headed toward his office.</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	“You expect us to just sit here and do nothing?” Rolanda asked Dumbldore for clarification.</p><p>	“We can’t do anything right now. There’s no one in place at the Ministry that we could report this to,” He explained. “If we had enough aurors I would insist you go to the Ministry with this information. For now, the best we can do is find a solution that doesn’t require higher authority.”</p><p>	“Like what?” Minerva almost hissed.</p><p>	Snape offered, “I think I can convince Lucius that his daughter has great potential and would require a little extra training over the winter break.”</p><p>	Minerva began to pace, “But what about over the summer? We can’t just let her go back there for that long. If she’s being beaten, then we need to keep her safe.”</p><p>	Dumbledore responded carefully, “Minnie, I know you have a soft spot for the children, but Storm isn’t one of them.”</p><p>	The older woman looked at him, almost seething, “She is a child, Albus. I’ve taken her into my home. You expect me to just sit here and wait? And I should have a soft spot for those children. They are mine.”</p><p>	“As much as-”<br/>	“No, Albus. I witnessed myself give birth to them. I watched as I walked home from the Hogwarts hospital wing with Preston after his mother came to you and said she couldn’t keep him. I watched their father die and I watched as I fought to keep Voldemort from getting through that portal. To everyone here it may have only seemed like a couple of hours, but Sirius, Severus, and I were there for years. Watching them.”</p><p>	“Minerva, I’m sorry. I was not implying that you-”</p><p>	Minerva retracted slightly, “No, I know… I’m just… I think we need to do everything we can to keep her safe. Even if that means I need to take her in.”</p><p>	Madam Hooch questioned, “Are you sure that’s the best option? I’ve seen the way Rain looks at her. You could be taking on a much bigger task.”</p><p>	Dumbledore chuckled, “Rain has taken a liking to Storm?”</p><p>	Snape droned, “To say the girl has a crush on her would be an understatement.”</p><p>	“What other choice do we have right now?” Minerva asked in hopes of someone coming up with a better solution.</p><p>	“For now, I think it would be wise to let Storm stay with people she’s already learned to trust.” Dumbledore took a seat behind his desk and told them, “Let’s just make sure to keep a close eye on her and Rain.”</p><p>	“They’re twelve, I don’t think they’ll be much of a problem,” Snape remarked.</p><p>	Minerva reminded him, “You have to pull apart two thirteen year olds at the end of the previous school year. Also, keep in mind that this is my daughter we’re talking about. She prefers to keep us all on our toes.”</p><p>	As Mcgonagall turned to leave, Rolanda followed quickly behind while Snape said goodbye to the headmaster. By the time he had caught up to his partner and the flying instructor, Minerva was going on about how something seemed fishy about Dumbledore’s almost uncaring reaction. He had to admit, it did seem a bit strange that Albus sounded unfeeling and a bit more cold than everyone else, but he could have been trying to keep a level headed attitude about things.</p><p>	“I don’t know what’s going on, but for now we can’t trust him with matters regarding Storm,” Minerva told them. “For the time being I don’t have a problem looking after her. She’s quiet and keeps to herself most of the time. The children mostly center their activities around her, so maybe she will have more success at getting them to stay indoors.”</p><p>	As they approached the door to where Minerva and the kids would be staying, Rolanda asked, “Is it really a good idea to not keep him up to date with Storm?”</p><p>	Minerva shook her head, “It’s the only choice we have right now. There was something about his reaction to the news that just doesn’t seem right. I’m all about following the rules, but in cases like this I think the rules need some bending.” As she opened the door and stepped in, she turned and told both of them, “For now let’s just brainstorm ideas of how to keep her out of harm's way.”</p><p>	“Mom, where’s my wand!” Ash called from somewhere inside their new residence.</p><p>	“On top of your bookshelf, dear,” She responded as the youngest of her three girls walked up behind her. The child thanked her and ran off just as she turned and told them, “We can meet together tomorrow night and discuss our options.”</p><p>	Sadie’s voice screeched, “Preston, give it back! I swear I’m not afraid to curse you!”</p><p>	Followed by Rain, “Wingardium leviosa!”</p><p>	The sound of crashing caused Minerva to stiffen up, “If you’ll excuse me, I’m sure we all have things we need to get done before the new first year students get here. I apparently need to prevent my children from killing each other.”</p><p>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * </p><p>	The first night of the school year was always exciting for returning students. There was a mixing of fear for the new wizards joining their ranks, but it usually faded after the feast. The previous year Minerva didn’t have to worry about it too much, because she wasn’t having to look after six of her own children and their friend. This year had already proved challenging and they’d only just finished up with the Welcoming Feast.</p><p>	As the entire McGonagall clan made their way back home with Sadie in tote, the children stopped multiple times to goof off and toy around with their increased power. Ever since the reversal of the spell that created their false memories, Minerva’s children had begun to see an improvement in their skills and abilities. This meant they had more magic charged up and ready to go at almost any moment. Luckily, they were well aware of what could happen if they didn’t learn to control it, so they’d started teaching themselves with the help of their mother and Hogwarts professors.</p><p>	“Mom,” Rain started, “Do you think I’d be able to conjure a horse?”</p><p>	Minerva sighed, “Please don’t.”</p><p>	“So I could?” The girl asked excitedly.</p><p>	“Let’s not find out,” Minerva replied, “Maybe one day we can see, but let’s not make today that day. We all have to get up early and I am exhausted.”</p><p>	“We could always try-”</p><p>	Minerva stopped and pulled Rain aside, “I know you’re excited about what you can do, but we already talked about the exchange of energy. It’s not possible in the way that you and your brothers and sisters are wanting to use it. Even if you could give and take from each other, it would be dangerous.”</p><p>	“But-”</p><p>	“No, Rain. You heard what Snape said. If it were possible you could all become addicted to it.” She looked over at the rest of her menagerie at the end of the hall, smiled, and said, “Now go catch up.”</p><p>	The girl sprinted toward her siblings and caught up just as they rounded the corner. They could hear Minerva shouting down to them to not go too far, which they took as an open invitation to wait and mess around with their magic while she caught up to them. Storm stood off in the corner behind the circle, but everyone noticed, so they rearranged themselves to include her. Even though she was still a bit shy with them, they weren’t with her and wanted to make sure she felt welcome.</p><p>	“I think I figured out how to make electricity,” Preston announced as he opened his hand. They all stared at his palm as he tried to concentrate on reproducing his results, but all that happened was a small flash. “It worked better earlier.”</p><p>	Emmett pointed out, “It was also raining earlier.”</p><p>	Preston snapped and pointed at Emmett, “Good point.”</p><p>	Rain whispered, “If we can learn how to do that energy transferring, we could probably give you enough power.”</p><p>	“Energy transferring?” Storm asked in a similar whisper.</p><p>	“Why are we whispering?” Liam interjected before his sister could answer.</p><p>	Rain flicked her wrist and a hint of static filled the air, “There we go, chamber of silence, are you happy now?”</p><p>	“I just wanted to know why we were whispering.”</p><p>	“Because mom doesn’t want us to try and learn about transferring our energy.”</p><p>	Storm spoke up, “Is that even possible?”</p><p>	Rain nodded, “I wouldn’t be surprised if we could figure it out. Wanna help?”</p><p>	The feeling of cold rushed past them and they turned to see Snape standing over them, “I thought we had this discussion already. No silencing charms for the foreseeable future. It’s how people sneak up on you.”</p><p>	Rain shrunk down as she responded, “Sorry.”</p><p>	“I’ll let it go this time, but if I catch you again, I’ll be taking points.” He looked up and saw a shadow approaching, “Now go back to your discussion, your mother is coming.”</p><p>	As Snape walked away, Rain whispered to Storm, “We’ll explain it to you later.”</p><p>	Minerva rounded the corner and Preston quickly announced, “And that’s why Wolfsbane and Monkshood are different.”</p><p>	“Preston, do I need to have Neville spend more time with you this year?” His mother asked.</p><p>	“Huh?”</p><p>	Rain sighed, “Idiot.”</p><p>	“Come along, children, we need to get home.”</p><p>	As they began walking to the area of the castle they were living in, Sadie elbowed her brother and said, “Wolfsbane and Monkshood are the same plant, you moron.”</p><p>	“Are you sure, because I could have sworn-”</p><p>	Sadie tapped Rain’s shoulder, “Rain, you’re the botanist.”</p><p>	“Are you talking about the Wolfsbane thing?” With a confirmation nod from her brother and sister, she replied, “They’re the same thing.” She looked up ahead at their mom, who was leading the pack and whispered, “Luckily, I think she’s just used to hearing you say stupid shit.”</p><p>	“Hey,” Preston started, “One of us had to cover. I’m quick on my feet.”</p><p>	Rain chuckled, “Odd for someone who always has their foot in their mouth.”</p><p>	“Hey!”</p><p>	Minerva turned and called over her shoulder, “Rain, come up here with me. I don’t need the two of you dueling before bed.”</p><p>	“But we-”</p><p>	“Rain, please.”</p><p>	The girl groaned as she trudged to the front of the group and walked on the left side of their mom. She and Preston shouted harmless banter to one another until they got to where the rest of the students had crowded in the courtyard. The returning students started whispering as the group passed. The previous year had been chaotic and the rumor that Voldemort was back had somehow begun to circulate. Nearly everyone blamed the McGonagall children, despite no one else knowing the link between the two sides.</p><p>	Once they’d passed the crowd, the children started talking again. It was clear that the forced isolation had conditioned them to get quiet when in the presence of other students. The heavy reality of their situation hit Minerva as they approached the front door and she fought back tears as she instructed everyone to get ready for bed. Sirius, who had got home an hour or so before they did, could tell there was something bothering his lover, but he knew she would talk about it with him when she was ready or after all the children fell asleep. He helped her remove her robe before the two of them sauntered off to get ready for bed like everyone else. The first day of classes started in the morning and they all needed their rest.</p>
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